


Young!Courier 6(BEING REWRITTEN)

by Skykittywhatchamahcallit



Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Kid being ignored, Underage Drug Use, constantly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-16
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-10-06 03:03:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 33,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10324124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skykittywhatchamahcallit/pseuds/Skykittywhatchamahcallit
Summary: A girl, shot in the head and left for dead in a shallow grave. She makes a comeback, ready to scour the Mojave for her killer. The odd thing? She's only 13, but she's smart, rough, and knows her way around people. Watch out Mojave, here comes Courier 6!





	1. The Doctor's Office

 Her breathing was slow, her head throbbing in pain. The girl groaned, opened her eyes, and closed them again. She was tired, and unwilling to get up. She opened her eyes again, and realized where she was. Or rather, where she  _ wasn’t _ . Within seconds, she was sitting up, her breathing fast as her vision blurred. She blinked away the black dots threatening her consciousness, and noticed a man sitting across from her. His hand was held out to help steady her, and she smacked it away. For all she knew it was… whoever had done whatever to her. Who did what to her, she couldn’t remember. “Alright now, easy. You’ve been out cold a couple of days now.”  

   “I’ve been what?”  The girl interrupted, a confused look crossing her face.

 “You’ve been out, asleep, not waking up.” The man clarified, “My name’s Doc Mitchell, welcome to Goodsprings.”

 “Goodsprings?” The name rang no bells for the girl.

 “Yeah, our cozy little town along the I-15. Here, let’s start with something easy, what’s your name? Can you tell me your name?”

 “Ummm,” The girl hummed, she didn’t know her full name. In fact, she didn’t know who she was, where she was, or what she was suppose to be doing. “I dunno. I think it might’ve started with an A.”

 “Well, that’s a start. I hope you don’t mind but I had to go rootin’ around there in your noggin’ to pull all the bits of lead out.”

 “You what? Lead? I was shot?” A asked incredulously. “So that’s what happened? That’s why my head hurts?”

 “Yeah, up at the graveyard up north of here as I’ve heard. You were saved by that robot, Victor. As I was sayin’, I take pride in my needlework, but you’d best tell me if I left anything out of place.” Doc Mitchell reached under his chair and pulled out a steel rectangle. A reached for her side, unsure of what she thought she’d find there. The doctor offered her the rectangle, and she took it reluctantly. It was a reflectron, and as she held it up, she could see what A assumed was her face.

 Her face was young and rounded, the upper left of it covered by a bandage. Her face was pale, dusted with freckles. A nasty scar traveled from the left side of her face up towards her ear. A hooked nose adorned the center of her face, below it were her thin lips. A’s eyes were gaunt, the dark brown a stark contrast to her features. Her auburn hair was cut chin-length, framing her face in a mess of swoops. A smiled, a row of crooked teeth showing themselves on-screen. She quickly closed her mouth and handed back the reflectron.

"I guess that’s me. Looks alright, but I can’t be sure.“ A said with a small smile.

 "Well, no sense keeping you in bed anymore. Let’s see if we can get you on your feet.” Doc Mitchell said, standing up. He offered a hand to A, who smacked it away on distaste. “I’ve got this.” She muttered as she stood up. A wobbled slightly as her vision blurred once again, but she quickly blinked it away.

 “Good, good. Let’s head over to that Vito-matic Vigor Tester over there. Take it slow now, it ain’t a race.” Doc Mitchell said as A headed towards it. Her steps started wobbly, but she quickly gained her balance. Doc Mitchell followed behind in case she fainted. As soon as A reached the tester, she braced her hands against it as her head spun. “Give it a spin, we’ll see right quick if you’ve got all your vitals back.” Doc said as A regained her balance. A quickly finished the test.

**S** -5

**P** -5

**E** -4

**C** -7

**I** -6

**A** -7

**L** -6

 “Yeah, that’s a pretty standard score there. But that’s pretty good considering what you’ve been through. Now come take a seat on my couch. We’ll do a few tests, just ‘cause your vitals are good doesn’t mean that bullet didn’t leave you nutter than a bighorner dropping.” Doc Mitchell said as he walked towards the couch. A followed him quietly and sat across from him.

"I’m gonna say a word, and I want you to say the first thing that come to mind, alright?“

"Alright.”

"Dog.“

" _ Bad. _ ”

 “House.”

 “Shelter…”

 The tests took around 20 minutes, at the end A filled out a quick sheet. Doc Mitchell walked her to the door, “I hope you don’t mind, but I went through your stuff. I took a look at the note, hoping to find a next of kin, but it was just something about a platinum chip.”

"You shouldn’t have gone through my stuff.“ A growled as she snatched back her satchel.

"I didn’t have a choice now did I? Here, take this. I don’t need it anymore, but maybe you could find a use for it.” Doc said as he handed A a pipboy and a pipboy glove.

"Uh, thanks?“ A said as she put it on.

"Don’t mention it. And put this on so the locals don’t pick on 'ya for lacking modesty.” Doc said, handing A a blue jumpsuit and a pair of boots, “It might be a bit big, but you can roll up the sleeves and pant legs.”

A quickly got dressed, “Thank you.”

"Ah, no problem. You should see that Victor fellow before you leave, he pulled you outta that grave. And stop by the Prospector Saloon, maybe Sunny Smiles’ll take you under her wing.“

A smiled, "Sure thing. Thanks.” She turned and stepped out into the hot desert, ready for whatever the Mojave had in store for her.


	2. The Kid Learns About the Wasteland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not as dialogue heavy. You're welcome.

  A sucked in a deep breath before walking down the slope towards the road. A large robot, who she assumed was Victor, rolled up to her, "Howdy partner! Glad to see yer still kickin'! You know I had my doubts when I pulled 'ya outta that grave."

  A smiled at the robot, "Glad I'm still kickin' too. What happened up there anyway?"

  "Well, I was takin' a stroll up by the old bone orchard and I saw what I thought were a couple of bad eggs, so I laid low. When they ran off I dug you outta that grave to see if you were still kickin', turns out you were. So I hauled you off to the doc right quick!"

  "Did you see who had shot me? I don't remember what happened."

  "I can't say I'm familiar with the rascals. But you might have some luck with the fine folk around town."

  "Thanks." A said as she headed towards the Prospector. She felt sort of uncomfortable around the robot. A went through her satchel as she waked, finding a 9mm pistol, a note, some caps, a worn canteen, some stimpacks, a few antivenoms, some bandage tape, a black wooden box with carvings of lions and flowers, a heart-handled key, a weapon belt, and a combat knife. She clipped on the belt and put her weapons in her sheaths. A smiled and dipped her head to the man sitting in front of the Prospector. She then stepped into the saloon, and was greeted by a barking dog.

  A's heart raced, her breath quickened and she slammed the door shut. "Scared of that dog, are ya? She won't bite 'ya. Unless you plan on making trouble." The man outside said with a chuckle.

  A gave a weak smile, "Yeah, um, I'm sure she won't."

  A stepped back into the Saloon, the dog still watching her, as well as the rest of the establishment. She swallowed a whimper and looked up to see a woman looking at her. "H-h-hi. I-I'm sorry. It's just, the dog-"

  The lady smiled, "It's alright, she won't hurt you unless I tell her to. My name's Sunny Smiles. You're the kid from Doc's, right?"

   "Y-yeah. I guess so."

  "From what I heard you weren't gonna make it out of there. You got a name?"

   "N-nah. J-just call me A."

  "Alright A, I reckon you're here to learn how to survive in the wasteland. I'm sure a kid like you will learn quick."

  "I- um, I'm sure I will." A glanced away from Sunny and back down to the dog, "Can you, uh, please leave the dog in here? I don't like her."

   "Well, alright. Meet me behind the Saloon. I'll teach you how to shoot."

  Sunny walked off, telling the dog to stay. A followed behind, avoiding the dog as best she could. She then walked behind Sunny as they headed to the back. When they reached the rear of the Saloon, Sunny handed A a varmint rifle. A looked down in confusion, then back up at Sunny. "It's easy. Hold it like this, aim at the bottles, and fire." Sunny demonstrated, pulling out her own rifle and shooting a bottle off the fence. A copied her, missing the bottle, missing again, and again. She held her breath for a moment, and knocked the bottle off with a shot. "That's it! Crouch down, it'll help your aim."

  A kneeled down, held her breath, and fired again. Another bottle fell. And another, then another. A looked up at Sunny, who was smiling at her, "Hey, you’re pretty good. But I reckon you didn't come here to fight sarsaparilla bottles. Why don't you join me while I clear out the wells? Damn geckos come down and attack the folks who go for water. Whatta ya say, I'd be worth a few caps to me."

  A shrugged, standing back up, "Why not? I could use some caps."

   "Great! C'mon kiddo, there this-a-way." Sunny said as she set off in a brisk walk down the road. A followed behind, her pace a bit faster so she could keep up.

   "So do you know anything about the people who shot me?"

   "Not a clue, kid. But you could ask Trudy. She owns the Prospector. Maybe they visited the bar after tryin' to kill ya."

  "Maybe."

 The pair reached the wells, the hissing of geckos audible nearby. "Hear 'em up on the ridge? Nasty little things, seems Doc treats more gecko bites than anything else. Why don't you get the jump on 'em? You could land in a few good shots that way." Sunny advised, crouching down. A copied her, and took the lead. She had her rifle at the ready as she snuck around the ridge. When the large purple beasts came into view, A lifted her rifle and held her breath. She fired once, twice, and a third time. One gecko fell as the others rushed toward her. A yelped as one leapt at her as she reloaded, and Sunny dispatched it in midair, it's limp body landing harmlessly to the side. "Watch it kid! They don't wait for you to reload!"

  "I get that! And stop callin' me kid!" A said as she dispatched the last gecko. Sunny smiled, "Well, there's two more wells that need clearin', you in or out?"

   "Let's go. Just let me collect up these geckos." A said as she rolled one over. There were 3 young geckos, and she assumed they would be edible, and their scales might be worth something. A grabbed all 3 of them by the tail, slung them over her shoulder, and nodded to Sunny, "Let's go. I'll skin 'em later."

 They traveled a bit of a ways down before reaching another well, and another 3 geckos. A collected them into a pile after she and Sunny killed them. On the ridge below, there was screaming. A rushed over to see what was happening. A woman was fighting four geckos back with a knife, "Help! Someone please!"

   A jumped off the ridge, and one of the geckos turned. She lifted her rifle and fired at the gecko as it charged. It took two shots, but it was downed before it reached her. The woman had killed one gecko, and Sunny had helped kill another. A finished off the last one. "Thank you both so much! I came down to draw water, but you seem pretty thirsty, so here's what I've collected." The woman said, handing A a few water bottles.

 "Oh! Thanks." A gratefully took the water bottles, downing one and putting the rest in her pack.

  "No problem, I'm heading back to town. Thanks again!" The woman said, turning back towards Goodsprings.

  "Damn locals, I keep tellin' them that goin' down here alone is dangerous. Here's the caps I promised." Sunny said, walking over to A with a gecko in hand as well as a bag of caps.

 A took them, putting the caps in her satchel and adding the gecko to her growing pile. "Thanks! Is that it?"

  "Well, I could teach you a bit about livin' off the land. If not I'll be heading off back to the Prospector."

   "Why not? I could use another lesson or two." A said as she collected up her geckos and slung her rifle onto her back.

  "Great! Meet me by the campfire below here when you're done."

  A drug the gecko corpses, 10 in all, down to the campsite below. She got to work skinning them and gutting them. There wasn’t much meat, or hide, per gecko and she could easily roll up the hides and put them in her satchel. The meat was stored in a large bag, which was also small enough to fit in her pack. A poured water over her hands to clean them off, then turned to Sunny, “I’m ready for whatever you want me to do.”

 "Great! So I'm gonna show you how to make healing powder, then I might help you with fixin' up those gecko bits, if you'd like. But first, I'm gonna need some supplies. I need broc flowers, I think I saw some up by the graveyard, and some xander root, which grows by the school house. Bring those to me, and I'll help you make some!"

  "Sure thing. And I'll want some help with those geckos when I get back." A said as she set off to find supplies. She headed up the road toward the graveyard first, killing a bark scorpion along the way. When she reached the top, the first thing she noticed was the buzzing of bloatflies. They hadn't noticed her yet, so she took a moment to get ready for a fight. She kneeled down and raised her rifle, holding her breath, and fired at the closest fly. It exploded, and the other two advanced, shooting maggots from their abdomen. A jumped up and away from the projectiles, taking another shot at the bloatflies, and another one dropped. The last fly buzzed closer, zig-zagging to avoid getting shot. It took a few tries, but A finally killed the last fly. She picked a clinging, gross maggot off of her suit and walked into the graveyard.

  She noticed an open grave, it was her grave. There was a burnt-out lantern, and some cigarettes littered nearby. A crouched down and picked one up, they were all the same brand. Maybe it would help her find whoever had shot her, so she stuffed a few in her satchel. She then walked around the graves, and spotted a snowglobe sitting at the base of one. She picked it up, muttering a 'sorry' as she put it in her pack. It was too interesting to leave behind. She walked over to the flowers, picked a few, and headed back down the hill towards the schoolhouse.

  A paused when she passed the general store, then decided that she didn't have enough caps for anything. Until her stomach rumbled, so she stepped inside. The store was dusty and dimly lit, random things strewn about the shelves. A man stood at the counter near the rear of the store, so A walked over. "Hey, you're that kid that got shot, right? From what I heard you weren't gonna be stepping out of that office anytime soon. If you did at all. The name's Chet, and this is the General store. We got food, ammunition, and anything else a wastelander might need."

  "I'm A, and I'm here to get something to eat. And probably pick up something to drink." A said as she picked up a nuka cola, some instamash, and 4 bottles of purified water. She set them down on the counter.

  "105 caps. Not bargaining, but I do accept trading."

 "Um," A grabbed out her caps. She had 100 caps, so she set an antivenom from her pack down beside it, "That enough?"

   "Sure, if you want 20 caps."

  A picked up two mutfruits, a box of fancy lad snack cakes, and a can of pork-and-beans. "And now?"

  "All your's," Chet said, taking the caps and antivenom. A thanked him and put everything except the instamash and a bottle of purified water away. She poured half of the water into the mash, and drank the rest. The instamash came with a spork, and she ate the cold imitation-potatoes as she walked to the schoolhouse. When she reached the schoolhouse, she had finished her food and tossed the used box into the schoolyard as she crouched down to start digging up the xander roots. She heard the box being kicked, and looked up. Two giant mantises were coming toward her, their colorful wings flared. A pulled out her pistol, her varmint rifle too far to reach. She raised the pistol and fired at the first mantis, which quickly jumped out of the way and toward her. She shot it again, killing it. The second mantis jumped at A, successfully scratching her hand. A growled and shot at the mantis, which jumped and landed next to A, scratching her arm. A smacked it with her scratched hand, dazing it momentarily. She fired another round, and the mantis died. A looked down at her scratched arm and hand, holstering her pistol with her other. The scratches burned, but they weren't deep.

  A dug out the 3 xander roots, shook them off, and placed them in her satchel. Her bag was almost full, and she headed back toward the wells. She watched as a small trail of blood ran from her arm, down it's side, and dripped onto the dusty ground. The wounds closed up as she walked down the road, so she wiped off the excess blood on her leg. She reached the campsite to find a small fired blazing, with Sunny sitting on a log a good bit away. "Hey kid! Got the stuff I asked for?"

   A showed her the crumpled flowers and roots, "Sorry 'bout the flowers. There's a lot of stuff in my pack."

  "It's fine, these will work fine. Just fine. Now come over here, we're gonna dry the flowers and roots out, then grind them together to make a powder. While they do that, we'll cook some of the gecko meat, smoke the rest, and I'll teach you how to tan the hides."

  It was dark by the time the finished, the fire nothing more than embers as Sunny tossed a few more dry sticks onto it. They had moved closer to the fire, the desert turning cold. The finished up tanning the hides and laid them out beside the fire to dry, hopefully to be finished by morning. They both ate gecko and A laid down beside the fire, looking up at the stars. Her head still hurt, but it seemed to have gotten worse over the day, and now her stomach was a bit upset. Sunny patted A on the shoulder, "I'm goin' home. You should be able to handle anything out here, you can crash at my place when you're done."

  "Sure thing, Sunny. And thanks."

 "No problem." Sunny walked back towards Goodsprings, leaving A alone by the fire. She sat up, tossed a few sticks into the fire, and looked through her pack. She now had 3 healing powders, 3 cans of water left, the battered canteen, and the mysterious box and key. She pulled out the box and key, noticing that the key was on a lanyard, and that both things were made of heavy wood. She unlocked the box and opened it slowly, noticing the bright red, small canisters sitting inside. A quote was carved into the lid, "Carry on, my brave little Lionesse.". The final 'e' wasn't black, and had likely been added as an afterthought. "Lionesse." A whispered as she read the quote, and re-read it. "Lionesse. I-I like that, is that my name?"

   A picked up one of the red canisters and shook it,  it made a soft clacking noise. It looked like an inhaler, she pushed the canister down, and a puff of vapor came from the front. She accidentally inhaled some of the vapor, and the world slowed down for a moment. A liked the feeling, so she put the canister to her mouth and inhaled again, pushing the canister down. Time slowed down once again, and A felt amazing. She finished off the canister in a few huffs, then put it back in her box, locked it again, and put it in her satchel. She threw a few more sticks on the fire, then laid down. She noticed her headache was gone, and she felt much better. "Lionesse," A said quietly, "My name is Lionesse." A, now Lionesse, closed her heavy eyes and fell asleep.


	3. I'm Not Sure the Kid Can Fight

   Lionesse awoke with the sun, shaking the sand from her hair and clothes. The fire had died out, but the hides were dry and the meat smoked. She collected up her stuff, put it in her pack, and headed back towards town. Lionesse  shook some more sand from her hair, and a bounce found it's way into her step. She bounced over to the Saloon, nodded to the man outside, and walked in. She had forgotten about the dog, which barked at her when she entered again. She once again slammed the door, closing her eyes as her heart beat just a little too fast.  She’d come back later, she didn’t want to deal with the dog right now. So she turned and walked towards the general store, she needed a new pack.

  Lionesse opened the door to the store, and noticed that Chet wasn’t standing at the counter. She quietly closed the door, and walked in, careful not to make noise. She walked silently over to the bins and looked into them, glancing up to see if she would get caught, and felt the urge to stuff some food and water into her pack. She knew it was wrong, but she ignored the feeling and picked up some potatoes, carrots, fancy lad snack cakes, and purified water. She’d stash them before she came back to get a new backpack. She then quietly turned and left, her pack just a little too full, and just a little too suspicious-looking. So she headed up behind the general store to see where she could hide things, and noticed a house on the hill behind it. Lionesse started up the hill towards the house and trailer, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her.

  Lionesse slipped quietly into the thin rows of cornstalk and emerged in front of an old, boarded-up house and trailer. She headed towards the trailer, looked around, and stepped inside. It was mostly empty, besides a mattress, two metal boxes, and some old whisky bottles on the shelf alongside a small gray electrical box. Lionesse set her pack down on the bed, grabbed everything inside the trailer, and stuffed it in one of the metal bins. She then took everything she had stolen and shoved it into the box as well. She left the bin there, then headed back down the hill and to the Prospector. She took the side door, thereby avoiding the dog. When she stepped inside, she noticed an argument was going on at the bar.

  “I’m done arguing, you either hand over Ringo, or me and my boys are gonna burn this place to the ground!” A man hissed at a smaller, kind-looking lady.

   “I’m sure you will, now either buy something or get out.” The woman responded, unfazed by the argument. The man shoved past her, then pushed past Lionesse, “Get out of my damn way kid.”

  Lionesse grunted as she was shoved out of the way, then stepped into the bar. The woman had returned to cleaning and filling glasses. She looked up when Lionesse stepped in, “Hey, you’re the kid who got shot, right?”

  “I guess so. My name’s Lionesse.”

   “Well, Lionesse, my name’s Trudy. I’m sorry if you caught sight of that little disagreement, don’t let it spoil your view of our little community.”

  “What was it about anyway?”

   “None of your business, kid.” Trudy said as she filled a man’s glass. Why people were drinking this early in the morning was beyond Lionesse. She waited a moment, tapping her fingers against the bar, “So who’s Ringo?”

  “Some caravaneer holed up at the gas station. We’re all hoping he’ll leave soon and take those powder gangers with him.”

   “Like that man you were talking to. Maybe I could ask Ringo to leave.”

  “Not to be mean kid-”

   “ Lionesse. ”

  “-Lionesse, but why should I believe that you could get him to leave?”

  Lionesse shrugged, “I could try. Worth a shot, right?”

  Trudy sighed and shook her head, “No way kid, if Ringo’s stayin’ here he’s stayin’.”

  Lionesse sighed, “Fine. Do you know anything about the people who shot me?”

  “Shot ya? Not much besides the fact that a man in a checkered suit is runnin’ the show. And that one of his goons knocked my radio to the floor and expected the drinks on the house, but I got ‘em to pay up.”

  “A man in a checkered coat? Did he say where he was goin’?”

  “Nah, but he did mention something about the I 15, but it’s impassable now, big creatures that’ll just get mad if you shoot at ‘em live there now. If you wanna get anywhere, you gotta go by Primm.”

  “Primm?”

  “Yeah, a small town a bit west of here. Your best bet would be goin’ that way.”

  “Thanks. And you mentioned something about your radio?”

  “No problem. Yeah, one of those guys knocked it to the floor, and it quit workin’. Nothing wrong on the outside, but I think something’s busted on the inside.”

  “Could I take a look at it?”

  Trudy picked up the radio and set it down in front of Lionesse, “Knock yourself out kid, I don’t think you can break it more than it already is.”

  “Thanks,” Lionesse said softly as she put the radio on it’s side. She pulled off the back panel, and looked around at the wires. A good few were loose, and a few more were completely disconnected. It was a quick fix, and Lionesse got it done in a few minutes. The radio crackled to life, and guitar music drifted from the speaker. Lionesse replaced the case and set it upright.

  “Well I’ll be damned. You did get it fixed, here’s some caps for your effort.” Trudy said as she put the radio back in it’s place and put a few caps down on the bar. Lionesse took them gladly, hopping off the barstool.

  “Thanks for the caps!”

   “No problem, have a nice day!”

  Lionesse bounced out the back door of the saloon and headed back towards the general store. She needed a new pack before she did anything else. She rubbed her face, then yanked her hand away as a burning pain spread through her body. She looked down at her arms and hands, which were bright red. She was sunburned, and it hurt quite a lot. She rolled down her sleeves and headed into the store, maybe she could find something to help her avoid more sunburn. She noticed that Chet was behind the counter now, "Hey kid-"

   "Lionesse."

   "Lionesse? I thought your name was A."

  "Well too bad, I'm Lionesse now." Lionesse huffed as she pulled out her gecko hides. Chet whistled, "That's a good five hundred caps right there. I hope you're plannin' on buying something 'cause I don't got caps like that."

  "I am. I want those gloves, that big black hat, that backpack up there, and some kind of armor." Lionesse hummed as she bounced. Chet grabbed everything she asked for, "That's all you can afford. The pack, the gloves, the hat, and a bullet-proof vest. It's probably a bit big, and probably heavy, but it lives up to it's name."

  "Nice. Thanks."

   "No problem ki- Lionesse."

  Lionesse put on the vest, which was rather heavy. She then put all her stuff in the pack, barely filling up the bottom. She then donned the hat and gloves, put the pack on her shoulders, and headed outside again. The first thing she did was collect everything she had stolen earlier, which filled her pack up half of the way. She then headed in the direction of the gas station. Trudy might not help her, but she could knock on the door. She walked up to the vending machine first and pressed all of the buttons, receiving 2 full bottles of sarsaparilla and one empty one. She added the full bottles to her pack as well and pounded on the gas station door. She was met with silence, so she waited a few moments. She then pounded on the door again, "Open the fucking door!" There was silence for a moment, but the door opened just a crack, and a pistol was pointed at Lionesse. She flinched, "If you shoot, you'd better not miss. In fact, if you do shoot me at all, you'd better waste a whole damn clip. Open up."

  The man hesitated, then opened the door, holstering his pistol. "Get in here, what do you want?"

  Lionesse stepped into the gas station, "I want to help you get out of here. The powder gangers are here and threatening the town."

  Ringo shut the door, looking Lionesse up and down, "So they sent a kid?"

  "No," Lionesse snapped, "They didn't send anyone. Lionesse sent Lionesse. "

   "Right. And what do you suppose we do?"

  Lionesse shrugged, "We could kill 'em."

   "Me? And you? Versus the powder gangers? That's suicide!"

  "You got a better idea?"

   "Well, uh, we could at least get some help from the other town members. But why should I trust a kid like yo-"

  "I am not a kid . Call me a kid again and I'll deck you."

   "Right. So why should I trust you to get a militia together? To actually help me, hmm?"

  "You got a better idea?"

  "Well, um, no, but-"

    "Alright then, shut the fuck up." Lionesse said, kicking a can in his direction. Ringo side-stepped the projectile, frowning at Lionesse.

   "Fine, you can try, but I doubt this'll work."

 "I'm your best bet at this point." Lionesse said as she headed for the door, "I'll be back when I can get all the help I can get."

 Lionesse stepped back out into the hot sun, closing the door behind her. She heard the lock click into place, and started back towards the Saloon. She could get Sunny Smiles to help, though she wasn't sure who else would help her. Lionesse nodded to Victor as she walked past him, the bounce in her step returning. She stopped at the Saloon's front door, waving again to the man outside before stepping in. She froze for a moment when she noticed the dog, but instead closed the door behind her and walked over to Sunny. She ignored the dog as best she could, even though she was visibly uncomfortable being around it. "Hey Sunny, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure kid, whatcha need?"

 "Could you, um, help me and Ringo kick the powder gangers out of town if they come along?"

 "You mean kill 'em kiddo?"

 "It's a bit harsh when you put it that way, but yeah."

 "Sure A, I'm in."

 "Lionesse, I'd much rather go by Lionesse."

 "Alright Lionesse, but we're gonna need some more help. You could ask Trudy, she's the town mom. If she's fightin', I'm sure the town will fight beside her. You could ask Easy Pete for some dynamite, though I'm not sure how well that'll go over. You could ask Chet for some supplies, I've heard he just got a shipment of leather armor. And Doc Michelle would probably be willing to help, someone's bound to get hurt."

  "Alright, but who's Easy Pete?"

  "The guy outside the Saloon, you probably saw him when you came in."

 "Thanks." Lionesse said as she headed towards the bar. Trudy looked up when she walked over to the bar.

 "Hey kid, what are you doin' back here so soon?"

 "Would you help us fight the powder gangers if they came around."

 "Really, kid? You really think you're gonna be able to fight them all by yourself."

 Lionesse grit her teeth, balling up her fists on the bar. "No, I don't think I can fight them by myself . That's why I'm asking other people for help ." She said, trying to keep herself from getting angry.

 "I dunno, kid. I'm sure-"

 "Call me kid again, and you'll see what happens. My name is Lionesse ."

 "Don't use that tone with me, young lady."

 "My fucking name is Lionesse . And you know what, never goddamn mind ." Lionesse yelled, slamming her hands flat down on the bar. She then turned and stormed out.

  "Disrespectful kid." Trudy muttered as she returned to cleaning glasses.

 Lionesse huffed, dragging her hands down her face, "I'm not a goddamn kid." She muttered as she walked down the road toward Doc Michelle's. She kicked a tumbleweed down the road as she walked, trying to calm down before she reached Doc's. When she reached the gate, she took a deep breath and walked up the steps. She knocked on the door, relaxing a little bit more. Doc opened the door, looking surprised to see her, "Back so soon, A? I hope you didn't get hurt again."

"Call me Lionesse, I'm not hurt, I'm just here to ask for some help if the powder gangers show up. And if they do, would you be willing to help us out?"

"I wouldn't be much use in a fight, but I can lend some supplies if things get rough. I'll help you out, no problem."

 "Thank you, Doc."

 "Not a problem, see 'ya kid."

"See ya." Lionesse said as she headed down the steps. She felt better, walking down the road again. This time she headed for the General store, ready to ask Chet for help as well. She put her hands behind her head as she walked, kicking some sand at a bird as she walked past. It squawked, flying away, Lionesse watched it. She walked up to the General store, taking her hands off of her head and walking in. Chet was sitting by the counter, looking bored. He looked up when Lionesse opened the door. "Hey kid! Back again?"

"Yeah. I need some help."

"With what?"

"Could you lend some of the armor you got to the town in case the powder gangers show up?"

 "Now why would I do that? I've got to run a business you know. I can't just be givin' things away."

 "I know, but without the town you'd have no business. And I'm sure the powder gangers are real keen on payin' for things."

"You've got a point kid. Here, I'll get everyone else some too." Chet said, putting a set of leather armor on the counter. Lionesse took it with a smile.

"Thanks Chet."

 "No problem kid. And I'm gonna stay in here while the fight's going on, business comes first 'ya know."

 "I get 'ya." Lionesse said as she left. She stuck the armor in her pack, she didn't need it at that moment. She then headed back towards the Saloon, ready to ask for help from East Pete. She doubted that she would get anything, but it didn't hurt to ask. She walked over to the man sitting down in front of the Prospector, "You're Easy Pete, right?"

"Sure am, kid. Whatcha need?"

"I've heard you've got dynamite."

"Sure do. But I ain't givin' you any. You'll just blow yourself up."

 "It can't be that hard, right? Just light and throw."

 "Sorry kid, not gonna happen."

 "It's alright, thanks anyway." Lionesse sighed as she headed back towards the gas station.

 "Sorry kid. See 'ya."

 Lionesse walked up the hill kicking a few rocks in front of her. It was only noon, and there was no sign of any powder gangers. She knocked on the door to the gas station, which was quickly unlocked as Ringo let her in. "Did you get help?" He asked as he closed and locked the door after Lionesse walked in.

 "Sure did. Sunny's on our side, Chet's got some armor, and Doc's gonna give us some supplies. I don't know how many people are gonna help us from around town, but I feel that we've got this."

  "Thanks!" 

 "No problem." Lionesse said, hopping into the counter and taking off her pack. She opened it and grabbed a box of fancy lad snack cakes and her bag of smoked gecko meat, "Hungry?"

  "Thanks, kiddo." Ringo said, taking a few bits of gecko meat, "Want to play a hand of caravan?"

  "Sure, but you're gonna have to teach me."

  "Not a problem, kid, here's a deck." Ringo said, grabbing two decks of playing cards from his pack. He handed one to Lionesse, "Alright, not you've got to make a caravan..." They spent the afternoon playing cards, Lionesse learning slowly the rules of caravan. The sun was setting when there was a knock on the gas station door. Ringo got up, pistol in hand, and opened the door. It was Sunny.

  "We've got powder gangers. Doc came through with the supplies and Chet with the armor."

  Ringo looked scared, "How many are there?"

  "Six, counting Joe Cobb. Let's go."

  Lionesse stood up, collecting up her stuff and putting it in her pack. She left the armor, she felt she didn't need it. She loaded her rifle as they headed down towards the Saloon. The powder gangers were lingering around on the road, Joe Cobb at front of the group. He noticed the trio heading towards them, "Hand Ringo over and we won't attack!"

  "No deal!" Lionesse called back as they neared. Ringo looked worriedly down at her.

  "Ohhhh, I'm so scared. The town of Goodsprings was so weak they sent a kid after us and her two bodyguards." Joe Cobb sneered. A few powder gangers chuckled too. 

 "Hey fucker, my name's Lionesse. And I'm not a kid." Lionesse said as she stopped by a stack of crates, looking out at group of powder gangers. Two held shotguns, one held a cleaver, another held a pool cue, Joe Cobb held a pistol, as did another powder ganger. They all looked ready to kill the whole town.

 "Sure, kid, so you gonna hand him over or not?"

  "No, we're not." Sunny said, chambering a round in her rifle.

 "Alright, you had your chance, boys," Joe Cobb called, looking at the powder gangers behind him, "Let's burn this town to the ground!"

  The powder gangers cheered.

  And the first shot rang out.


	4. The Kid Can Fight

  The man beside Joe Cobb staggered, the bullet entering his side. Lionesse smirked and chambered another round, taking aim at another powder ganger. Joe Cobb snarled, "Kill 'em all!"

  The gunfire started, two of six rushed forward, close-range weapons in hand. The one with the cleaver was quickly shot down by Sunny, but the one with the pool cue reached Lionesse. She fired at him, the bullet grazing his side. He staggered momentarily, then swung at Lionesse as she reloaded. She lifted her arm at the last moment, the cue smacking against it. Pain shot through her arm and down her back. A shot rang out in Lionesse's direction, and the powder ganger went pale. He fell forwards, a bullet lodged in his back. Lionesse looked up, only two powder gangers, counting the one at her feet, were dead. The others were hiding behind cover. She chambered a round and fired at the powder ganger closest to her. The bullet lodged itself into his shoulder, "You bitch! You're dead! You hear me, kid? You're dead!"

  "There's no kids here!" Lionesse called back, firing again, the bullet digging itself into the man's head. He fell backwards, another curse coming from Joe Cobb.

 "Kill them dammit!" Joe Cobb called, switching on a stealthboy. He disappeared, leaving the last two powder gangers to the mercy of Sunny Smiles, Ringo, and Lionesse. Ringo fired at a powder ganger behind a car, which exploded after being shot. The final powder ganger was farther away, and tossed a stick of dynamite at the trio.

  "Duck!" Sunny yelled as the stick bounced towards them. It exploded, sending sand into the air and blinding them.  More shots rang out while the dust cloud settled, where they were coming from was uncertain. After a few minutes, the dust settled and the last powder ganger had come closer, a fatal mistake. The trio fired at him, and he slumped to the ground as well. There were 5 bodies on the ground, Joe Cobb was missing.

  "Come out you coward! Scared of a kid and her bodyguards?" Lionesse called, looking around. Joe Cobb was nowhere to be seen.

 "Lionesse! Watch out!" Sunny Smiles called, running towards her. Lionesse turned around in time to see Joe Cobb appear and backhanded her across the face. She stumbled and fell to her knees, a boot connected with her jaw and set itself on her chest. Lionesse wheezed, fumbling for her pistol. She heard a gun cock.

 "Put the gun down, Cobb. It's over."

 "It's not over! You had your chance! This all could have been avoided, but you decided to send a kid to kill us," Joe Cobb ground his boot into Lionesse's chest. She wheezed, her hand gripping the handle of her gun. Sunny's finger tensed on the trigger, and Joe Cobb's did the same, "Shoot me, and she dies."

Another gunshot rang out, Joe Cobb yelling in pain as his gun flew from his mangled hand. Another shot, then another, Joe Cobb staggering backwards off of Lionesse and onto the dusty ground, blood coming from his head. Lionesse stood up, chambered yet another bullet into her pistol, and emptied her clip into Joe Cobb’s corpse. “And you said a kid couldn’t fight.” She wheezed as she holstered her gun. Sunny and Ringo were watching in awe as Lionesse turned and walked over to them.

  “Jesus Christ, kid.” Ringo murmured as Lionesse walked over to them, her head down.

  “People said a kid couldn’t fight,” Lionesse said softly, looking up with a grin, “Then what was that?”

  Sunny grabbed Lionesse in a hug and spun her around, “We did it kid! The powder gangers are dead! Maybe now they’ll think twice before messin’ with Goodsprings!”

 Lionesse giggled as she was spun, bouncing on her toes when she was put down, a big smile on her face. Ringo still looked like he had seen a ghost, but looked down at Lionesse with a smile.

  “You did it kid, we wouldn’t have been able do it without you. Here’s some caps for your help. I know there wasn’t a price on the table when you asked, but here’s what I’ve got.” Ringo said, giving Lionesse a small bag of caps. Lionesse smiled and tucked them into her pack. Then the door to the saloon opened, then the door to the general store. People looked worried, then looked surprised, maybe a little bit horrified. Trudy looked stunned, walking towards the trio, “Damn kid, you could do it.”

  “No shit.” Lionesse bit back, still a bit angry at her for denying her help.

  “Sorry I didn’t trust ya, Lionesse. You three did good. Maybe the powder gangers won’t mess with us anymore.”

   “Maybe.” Lionesse shrugged, stuffing her hands in her pockets. Trudy started clapping, then Chet, then the town joined in. Sunny Smiles, Ringo, and Lionesse were the center of attention, beaming at each other. After a few minutes, the sound died down and people went about cleaning up the mess of corpses strewn around, leaving the trio and Trudy standing outside the Saloon. The silence was a bit tense.

 “I guess I’ll be heading back to the Crimson Caravan tomorrow.” Ringo said, breaking the quiet.

  “Good luck,” Lionesse said, waving to him as he headed back towards the gas station.

  “You stickin’ around, kid? We could use someone like you around here.” Trudy asked.

   Sunny Smiles nodded, “We could use another ass-kicking girl like you.”

   Lionesse smiled, but shook her head, “I’m gonna find the person, or people, who shot me. And I’m gonna make them pay.”

  “Well kid, luck to ‘ya.” Trudy said, heading towards her home.

  “See ‘ya round, kid.” Sunny said, heading off to help people move the corpses into a pile. They were likely to burn them in the morning. Lionesse waved and headed up the hill towards the gas station. She needed her pack, it contained everything she owned. She stepped up to the door and knocked. Ringo opened it, “I’m guessin’ you need your stuff.”

  “Kinda do.” Lionesse said, stepping in. her pack was still sitting on the counter while the leather armor sat beside it. She put her pack on and grabbed the armor. “See ‘ya Ringo.”

  “See ‘ya Lionesse.” Ringo said, closing the door behind Lionesse as she walked out. Lionesse then walked towards the house behind the Saloon. It was empty, so was the trailer, so she’d sleep there. She walked through the corn stalks and into the clearing between the trailer and house. She stepped into the still-empty shell of the trailer, and sat down on the old, dry-rotted bed. She took off her pack, followed by her hat. She once again grabbed her box and key, opening the container. Maybe the red stuff helped keep her from getting headaches, though she didn’t know why she felt the need to hide it.

  Lionesse finished the red canister rather quickly, and put away her box. She looked the wooden key over in her hand. It had nothing remarkable about it, even though the key was shaped much like a pointed dowel with holes in it, that and the handle was a heart. She put the lanyard over her head and tucked the key into her shirt. She liked it, it was a link to her past, however far away it was. Lionesse then laid down on the old bed and looked up at the roof. It had been a very eventful second day, starting off with thievery and ending with murder. She chuckled to herself, start the day a criminal, end the day a criminal. Sure, the killing had been in self-defense, but she had gone a bit over board. As she thought, her eyes grew heavy, and she fell asleep.

* * *

 

  _She was walking on a path, beside a faceless man in a suit and his two faceless bodyguards. She was arguing with the faceless man. She was on the ground. She was tied, bound, and slung over a shoulder. She was on her knees, a gun to her head, the gun held by the faceless man as his two bodyguards watched. She was buried alive, and saved by a faceless robot. Only to be pushed into a rushing torrent of blood and death._

* * *

Lionesse awoke in a cold sweat. The moon was low in the sky, dawn not yet breaking. The horror from her dream lingered as she packed her stuff. Her mind was set, she couldn’t stay here, not another day, not another night. Lionesse put her pack over her shoulder and left the town, heading quietly down the dark road. She would leave without a goodbye. She would come back, but she couldn’t stay now. Lionesse felt she needed to find the men, the faceless men in her dream, and make them pay. And she would make them pay with their own blood. She headed down the road, grabbing a fallen shotgun from the pile of corpses. She was ready to fight whatever stood in her way. She was Lionesse, the kid no-one believed in, the kid left for dead, and a kid out for vengeance.

 


	5. Primm

  Lionesse watched the road warily as she walked away from the dark town of Goodsprings. The desert was still cold, and the thin fabric of her vault suit did nothing to protect her against the chill of the night. She slung her new shotgun over her shoulder and hugged herself as she headed towards Primm. She guessed it was the distant town wrapped in the rollercoaster. She headed down the road towards it, and now unprotected by the mountains, shivered and flinched as cold wind and sand flung itself around. She dipped her hat farther and held herself closer. _‘Maybe I shouldn’t have left until morning,’_ Lionesse thought as she walked, _‘But if I had stayed, the nightmare would have come back.’_

  The road was dark, besides the glowing embers of a fire off the side of the road, which Lionesse took care to avoid. The moon set slowly over the mountains, and the sun rose slower across from it. The sky went from black, to purple, to a dark blue. The desert was still chilly as Lionesse reached the first sign. It was old, reading only that the town had a hotel and a gas station. Lionesse continued on, jumping over the small ditch that ran through the road. As the sun rose, the desert warmed, the sun slowly climbing over the mountains. Primm became clearer and clearer as she neared it, noticing small barrel fires and flags waving over some parts of it.

  “Neow Calofoni-a Re-pube-lick.” Lionesse said as she read the flag. She wasn’t paying attention, and a man ran up to her.

 “Careful, kid, this place is off limits.”

 “Says who?”

 “Says the convicts up the road and the NCR. Turn around and head back towards Goodsprings.”

 “Well, I’m not gonna do that, I can take care of myself, thanks.”

 “I’d normally take your word, but you’re a kid. I’ll send someone to escort you back.” The man said, turning back towards the camp.

 “Hey!” Lionesse yanked the man’s shirt, spun him around, and grabbed his collar. Now the man looked somewhat scared. Or like the kid was an idiot, “You’ll be doing nothing of the sort. _I_ can take care of _myself_. You’re gonna go back to your watch and leave me to do my business.”

  The man did not buy it, prying Lionesse’s hands off his collar, “Uh, sure kid, whatever you say. I’m gonna go get someone to take you back to Goodsprings now.” The man turned and dashed in the direction of the tents. Lionesse stomped her feet, and growled. The headed up towards the bridge, the only way into Primm. She ran as fast as she could past the guards, then across the overpass.

  _Beep beep beep!_

**_Boom!_ **

  Lionesse gasped, stumbled, and kept running. She heard shouting behind her.

_Beep beep beep!_

**_Boom!_ **

_Beep beep beep!_

**_Boom!_ **

**** Lionesse kept running, her foot caught on the last mine and she stumbled,

_Beep!_

Lionesse kicked the mine backwards as she ran forwards

_Beep!_

 Lionesse lept forward, covered the back of her head with her hands, and tucked in her knees.

_Beep!_

  Lionesse tumbled towards the ground.

  **_Boom!_ **

  Lionesse was tossed forwards with the last explosion. She rolled, her tuck broken as she barreled across the ground. Her body bounced once, twice against the unforgiving pavement. She groaned, her eyes shut tight as her head lulled and she rolled over onto her back. She held a hand up to her forehead, feeling for the ripped fabric of the bandage covering her bullet wound. It had been torn away, and her hand came away wet with fresh blood. She groaned again as she sat up, her ears ringing from the explosion. She looked around for her hat, picked it up, and set it back on her head. A gunshot landed beside her, followed by another a few feet off. Convicts were heading toward her, their guns up and their fingers on the trigger. Lionesse scrambled to her feet, pulling her shotgun off her back and raising it up. The convicts fired at her, and she fired in return. She hesitated, then started running. She ran towards them as fast as she could. She didn’t know why, but it stunned them for a moment. Long enough for her to slam herself into one of them and head towards the Mojave Express. Gunshots followed behind her as she slammed into the door, which fell open, and closed it behind her. She looked around wildly for a chair, or table, or something to prop up against the door. Lionesse grabbed a chair from the dinner table, propping it under the handle.

  Lionesse sat down, back against the counter by the door, her eyes closed and head back. She was breathing heavily, her ears ringing and her forehead bleeding. She brought her knees up to her chest, wiping her bloody forehead against them. She stayed sitting for a while, her eyes closed as she waited for everything to stop hurting. When her breathing returned to normal, she shakily stood up and looked around. The first thing she noticed was a round robot lying on the counter. She walked over and opened the back panel. It really needed fixing, but she couldn’t think about that now.  She instead looked around for someone, anyone, who could tell her what she was suppose to do. She was a courier, after all. A robot wouldn’t help her.

  Lionesse found nothing helpful, and walked back over to the robot. She had to admit, it might be a little bit helpful. Especially with the laser. She opened the back panel and looked through the circuits again. A good bit of it was fried, some of the bits needed recalibrated, and some just needed replaced. She really liked the robot, wondering if she could stick it in her pack. She first started by disassembling the antennae and putting them in her pack. She then put the large, ball-like body into the top of her pack. It filled her pack even more, but she was alright with that.

 Blood trickled down her forehead and into her eye, she blinked and wiped her face. The stitches were still in her head, but she had reopened the wound from the blast. She had bandage tape, but didn’t exactly want to have to take the time to bandage her wound. Lionesse instead moved the chair away from the door, grabbed her shotgun, and stepped back out into the town. One of the convicts was waiting right near the door, and she blasted his face to pieces. The other convict hid behind the building and fired at her. She avoided the bullets as she reloaded and headed in his direction. A bullet nicked her arm, but she carried on towards him. She fired, and the man’s chest became littered with bullet holes. He looked down, stunned, then back up at Lionesse, who finished him off with another bullet to the head.  She holstered her shotgun and looked around, she was right next to a casino. She assumed more convicts would be hiding there, so she continued towards some shacks nearby. Maybe the surviving residents would be there.

  Lionesse walked into the first one, the air smelling of blood and decay. She gagged, covering her face with an already bloody sleeve. She walked in, looking around at the dusty place. In the bedroom, there were two headless corpses rotting in the intense heat of the house. Lionesse’s eyes watered as she ran back out, there were no survivors in there. She took gasps of the fresh air outside, coughing and gagging. It took her a few minutes, but she regained her composure enough to stand and continue to the next shack. When she tentatively opened the door, she was not flooded with the smell of rot. She was met with dusty, sandy smelling air. She walked into small shack, looking around at the sparse furniture as she headed into a screened area. There was no-one there, but a shiny box caught her eye from the side of the bed. It was a footlocker, and she stepped over to it. She crouched down and tried the latch, locked. She wondered if she had anything to break the box open, or maybe pick the lock. She looked around, finding some bobby pins on the side table and a screwdriver in a tool box. Maybe these would help her.

  It took her a few tries, and breaking a bobby pin, but Lionesse opened the chest successfully. She undid the latch and looked inside, there was a pistol, a rifle, a few spent casings, and 2 boxes of ammo. One box for 9mm, one box for 5.56, she grabbed the 9mm box, stuck it in her pack, and closed the locker. She guessed the residents were dead, and felt ready to take on the convicts. She put her pack back on, checked that everything was loaded and working properly, and headed back outside. Lionesse knew she probably looked gruesome with the blood on her face and clothes, since there was quite a lot of it now, but maybe it would throw the convicts off. A kid, wielding a shotgun, covered in blood, waltzing in and taking some guy’s head out. She chuckled at the thought as she neared the front of the casino. She pulled out her shotgun, placed her hand on the doorknob, and hoped for the best.

  She pulled the door open, expecting gunfire and hell to break loose, but she was only met with an old man and a few ragged looking-people. She stepped in, the door closing behind her, and looked around. Everyone was looking at her, and she avoided eye contact as best she could. The friendly-looking old man spoke first, “I don’t know what brought you to Primm, youngster, but the town’s gone to hell. Hell, I’m not even sure how you made it this far into town, especially with those kind of wounds.”

  “I’m, uh, fine actually, it’s all superficial. I’m a courier.”

 “Well, I don’t got any work right now I’m afraid.”

  “Oh! No, I’m not looking for work, I’m here after a delivery I was suppose to make.” Lionesse pulled the note from her side pocket, handing it to the man. He read it, then handed it back to her with his brow furrowed.

 “You’re talkin’ about one of _them_ packages. They had strange written all over ‘em, but we couldn’t turn down the caps. Everyone was carryin’ something a bit different, a pair of dice, a chess piece, a chip. That sorta thing. Last I heard payment was given for the other five jobs. It’s only your chip that didn’t get delivered.”

  “Ah, well, thanks. You don’t happen to know if a man in a checkered suit and two others came through here, do you?”

  “You could ask Deputy Beagle, he was slinking around when he showed up. But he got himself captured over at the Bison Steve. It’s too dangerous for some kid like you to go findin’ him.”

  “Yeah? Well I’m gonna go find him.” Lionesse said, turning to walk out. The man grabbed her wrist, and she turned back to him.

  “You shouldn’t be goin’ on a rescue mission like that, kid. You’re not old enough.”

  “Not old enough my ass,” Lionesse tugged her hand away, but the man held tight, “And I’m _Lionesse_ , not _kid_. Let me the fuck go or you’re gonna meet the wrong end of a shotgun.”

 The man let go of her wrist, and Lionesse took a few steps back, eyeing the man suspiciously. “You’re gonna get yourself killed going on a missi-”

  “ _Good!_ ” Lionesse snapped, backing towards the door, “I’m leaving, and you’re not gonna stop me, or I’m gonna kill you.”

  Lionesse quickly left the casino, aware of how many people were staring. She holstered her shotgun and absent-mindedly rubbed her wrist. She didn’t appreciate being grabbed like that, or touched at all. She walked directly to the Bison Steve, looking up at the sun, which was just barely a quarter-way up the sky. She grabbed her shotgun and headed into the hotel. The front area was empty, but she still closed the door quietly and crouched down. She snuck to the barrier of tables that had been made, listening quietly as footsteps neared her. She readied her shotgun, her finger in the trigger, turned around, raised her weapon, and waited. It took less than a minute, a man appearing in the doorway. He barely had time to grab his weapon, much less fire it at her before she ripped holes in his torso. He staggered backwards, a shout coming from down the hall. Lionesse reloaded, ducking down behind the tables as she heard rushing footsteps. When her gun was loaded, she popped back up and fired at the second man, who fired at her. The man fell, and the bullet ripped through the table and to the wall behind Lionesse. She ducked once again and reloaded, waiting for more footsteps.

  When none came, she stood up and walked quietly around the tables toward the two dead convicts. She didn’t bother to check what they had on them, and headed down the hall. There was a small gift-shop looking area, and Lionesse ducked in. Books, papers, and teddy bears were strewn around. Lionesse picked up the bear at her feet, it was missing it’s right eye and ear. “Huh,” Lionesse scoffed, tossing the bear back onto the floor. She headed towards the counter, where a pile of bottle caps sat near the register. She took them and put them in the small sack of caps she had gotten from Ringo. She then looked around at what was in the store, which was mostly burned and ruined books. There were 2 sitting on the shelf that caught her attention, and both were in good condition: _“How to Survive the Desert”_ and _“The Plants of the Mojave.”_ Lionesse picked them up and put them in her pack, they would probably be useful later on, especially once she ran out of gecko meat.

 Lionesse exited the small store, looking left and right into the dark main room. She then headed down the main hall, towards a dim light coming from another room. She heard footsteps, and raised her shotgun again. A man stepped around the corner, he was holding a shotgun. Before he could raise it, Lionesse fired at him, and he crumpled to the ground. She waited a moment before nearing him, kicking his body over to make sure he was dead. He was, a good-sized hole had been blown into his forehead. Lionesse picked up his shotgun, which was much heavier and sturdier than her’s. It also held two bullets instead of one. She put her single-shot shotgun down, keeping the one she held in her hands. She realized that she should probably check what people had on them, maybe they had some good stuff.

  Lionesse dug around in guy’s pockets, pulling out a few shotgun shells, a few bottle caps, two sticks of dynamite, and a lighter. She put the caps in her sack, stuck the shells in her pocket, and headed towards the other room once again. She heard a fire crackle, as well as a few voices. Lionesse flipped open the lighter, which lit up with a dim glow, and readied a stick of dynamite. She lit it, through it into the opening, and waited. The explosion rang out, a loud curse followed, as well as some scrambling. Lionesse readied her new shotgun, and headed into the room. There was a body on the ground, and two men looking around wildly. One looked as if a good few bits of tile had stuck themselves in his arm from the explosion, the other one looked fine. Lionesse raised her gun at them, and fired. She was knocked backwards, both shots rang out, one directly after the other. One man crumpled to the floor as the other headed towards her. She sat up, the wind knocked out of her as she reached for her pistol. The man shot at her, and she rolled to one side. She lifted her pistol at him and fired once, missed, fired again, and landed a gut-shot. She fired again as he fell and the bullet went through his throat.

  Lionesse got to her feet, reloaded her pistol, picked up her shotgun, reloaded it, and headed towards the room to her left. Before she entered it, she pressed all the buttons on the sarsparilla machine, receiving 3 full bottles. She then headed into the next room, which she guessed was a kitchen. There was a counter blocking her view, so she raised her shotgun, expecting there to be a convict behind it. Instead, Lionesse was met with a white-haired man, bound and on his knees, looking up at her in fear and awe.

 “Out of everyone I thought would save me, I never expected a kid.”


	6. Kid VS Convicts VS Deputy

  “Then who _were_ you expecting? And who are you anyway?” Lionesse asked, lowering her gun.

 “I’m not sure, but a kid who looks like she’s been through Hell and back was not on that list. I’m deputy Beagle. Now sweetheart, can you please free me from my bondage? My hands are quite numb.” The man asked, shifting slightly.

  “I dunno, ‘sweetheart’, can you tell me about a man in a checkered suit?”

  “I can, as soon as I’m free.”

  “No deal, you’re gonna tell me now or you’re not getting out.”

  “Sorry kid, but I know you won’t do that, now please untie me.”

  Lionesse groaned and holstered her shotgun, crouching down to cut Beagle’s tied wrists. She grabbed her knife and swiftly cut away the ropes. Beagle sat back and rubbed his wrists for a few moments, watching Lionesse. Lionesse began looking around the room in search of anything useful.

  “So what’s a kid like you doing out here? And you know you're bleeding right?”

   “I’m here looking for the man in the checkered suit. And yeah, I know I’m bleeding. I’m fine.” The reminder sent a shot of pain through Lionesse. She had been ignoring the sting of her wounds while she fought.

  “And why are you lookin’ for him?”

  “He shot me,” Lionesse said, stuffing a large wooden spoon and pot into her bag. They’d be good for cooking later. She turned and pointed to the now scabbed-over bullet wound on her forehead, “Nearly killed me.”

  “Yikes, how’d you survive?”

  “I’m not even sure.” Lionesse said, turning and grabbing some tin plates off of the shelf as well. She put them in her pack.

  “Well, let’s get out of here and I’ll tell you once we get someplace safer.” Beagle said, standing up.

  “No, you’re not. You’re gonna help me here first, and you’re gonna tell me as we explore and kill the rest of these convicts,” Lionesse opened the fridges along the side wall. Some of the stuff had rotted, but some still looked good. She pulled out bottles of alcohol and water, setting them on the counter in the middle of the room. Beagle was giving her an odd look.

 “Uh, no offense kid, but what makes you think you can take on convicts?”

  Lionesse coughed, then started laughing. She put her elbows on the table and cackled, burying her face in her hands. Beagle looked concerned, “I’m bein’ serious!”

  It took Lionesse a minute, but she regained her composure enough to look Beagle in the eye, “How do you think I got in here?”

  “You walked,” Beagle responded sarcastically.

 “Uh huh. Now what’s in here that’s dangerous?”

  “The convicts.”

  “Uh huh, so to get in here I would have to fight the convicts, right? Kill ‘em, yeah? _Hell_ , you heard the firefight! You think they saw me walk in and thought ‘we’re gonna shoot ourselves ‘cause this kid looks _bad-ass_!’ No, I can tell you they did not.”

  “Well, um,” Beagle stumbled over his words, “Fine, I’ll join you while you fight the convicts. Jeez.”

  “Good,” Lionesse said as she finished collecting everything. She had 3 atomic cocktails, 2 vodkas, 2 whiskeys, 3 wines, 2 bottles of purified water, a box of matches, and a large knife. She reorganized her pack and put it back on, adjusting her hat before she nodded to deputy Beagle, “Ready when you are!”

  Beagle groaned, “Lead the way kid. I’ll be right behind you.”

 Lionesse started back the way she came, not bothering to stop the check the convict’s pockets. The pair headed towards the stairs, “So what do you know about the man in the checkered coat?”

  “I was sli- doing recon around the Bison when I saw your pretty boy friend come through with some Khans, he was talkin’ about a platinum chip he had taken from a courier, I’m guessin’ that was you.”

  “Sure as hell was, keep talking.” Lionesse said, hitting all the buttons on the Nuka Cola machine and looking in the Food-o-matic. She received 2 bottles of cola, a box of mentats, and a box of gum.

 “Well, I heard him talkin’ about heading up Novac through Nipton. Said he was gonna meet a contact there.”

  “A contact in Novac. Huh.” Lionesse open the door and headed up the stairs. She was thinking of how many ways you could kill a man. She unholstered her shotgun as they reached the top the of stairs. Deputy Beagle pulled out his pistol. Lionesse looked back at Beagle, who nodded at her, and she opened the door, looking up and down the hall with her eye in the sights. Beagle followed suit, “Clear.”

  Lionesse lowered her shotgun, heading down the hall. She noticed a door, tried the handle, and found it locked. “Dammit, hold on.” She muttered as she looked in her pocket for her screwdriver and bobby pins. She pulled them out, crouched down, and got to work on the lock.

  “What the hell are you doing?!” Beagle hissed quietly, looking around then back at Lionesse.

  “I’m picking a lock, dumbass. What’d you think I was doing?” Lionesse retorted as she unlocked the door with a satisfying click. She opened the door, noticing a doctor’s bag first, then an empty first aid kit. She grabbed the supplies out of the bag and stuffed them in her pack’s pockets, she was running out of room. But she still had her courier satchel and her pockets. She opened the metal box, finding scrap electronic pieces, and put them in her pack as well. She could fix the robot with the parts later. She stood up again, busting Beagle in the jaw with her pack.

 “Dammit!” Beagle hissed as he stumbled backwards, grabbing his jaw. Lionesse looked at him, a look of mild discontentment on her face.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t have been looking over my shoulder then. Let’s go.”

  “Ugh, asshole.” Beagle muttered as he followed Lionesse back down the hall. They were met with another convict, who Lionesse took down with one shot. This time she handled the shotgun with ease, careful not to hold the light trigger down too long. She checked the man’s pockets, finding 9 caps and 2 sticks of dynamite. Lionesse and Beagle headed down the hall, finding another convict. Beagle shot first, Lionesse’s killing blast followed. The convict crumpled to the floor, Lionesse stepping over to check his pockets. Some 9mm bullets, 9 caps, and 3 sticks of dynamite, “They're broke and they really like dynamite. Why haven’t they tried tossing the shit at us yet?”

  “Probably because they don’t want the roof coming down on their heads too. Let’s hurry up and get this done.” Beagle said, shifting feet as he waited for Lionesse to continue. She stood up and continued, reloading her shotgun. It wasn’t long before another convict appeared, Lionesse blowing his skull to pieces before he got the chance to take a shot. Lionesse grabbed 2 sticks of dynamite and a bottle of hydra off of his corpse. They passed a few hotel rooms, they were all empty and they didn’t bother searching them. They then passed a vending machine, Lionesse pressed all the buttons, much to Beagle’s dismay, and put 4 more bottles of sarsaparilla in her pack. Lionesse heard some shuffling behind a hotel door, and she opened it to find a convict, who turned and raised up his weapon. He fired at Lionesse, who dodged and hid behind the wall. Beagle looked at Lionesse, then into the hotel room, he barely avoided another bullet. Lionesse raised her shotgun, expecting the convict to come out at any moment.

  “Come out, bastard!” Lionesse growled, pointing her gun at the doorway.

  “You first fucker!” The convict called back.

  Beagle looked at Lionesse, shaking his head and shrugging, “The hell are we supposed to do? We walk in, we get shot. He won’t come out.”

  Lionesse shrugged, “We could just fire in the doorway.”

  “I can hear you!” The convict yelled, shuffling towards the bathroom. Lionesse checked her gun and pointed it into the doorway, firing twice into the room. There was a yell, then silence. Lionesse risked a look, the convict was gone. A gunshot rang from above them, the convict had moved upstairs. Lionesse ducked behind the wall again and reloaded her shotgun. Beagle moved into the room and killed the convict upstairs. Lionesse checked his pockets, a bottle of dirty water and 2 sticks of dynamite.Before the pair left the room, another shot rang out from the hotel’s bathroom. Lionese fired once at him, a muffled curse was heard, then Lionesse fired another shot. Beagle headed towards the door with his gun raised. He fired once again at the convict, who lay in a slumped pile on the floor. Lionesse kicked him over, just to make sure he was dead, then checked his pockets. He carried a few 9mm bullets, 9 caps, 2 sticks of dynamite, and a worn key. Lionesse turned and left the room, heading down the hall. They checked one more room,  the only interesting find being a bottle of whiskey and 2 canisters of jet.

 “Let’s take a break,” Lionesse said, sitting down on a worn couch in the hall. Beagle sat at the other end. Lionesse checked her guns, drank a bottle of water, and ate another stick of gecko jerky. She felt she needed more variety besides gecko meat, but it was one of the more sustainable things she had. She fiddled with her pipboy as they rested, not ready to see if anymore convicts showed up. Lionesse rearranged her full pack, she needed to fix the robot before too long or she’d be unable to carry much else. It was a while before they got up to leave.

  The pair retraced their steps back down the stairs, then out the front door. The sun was low in the sky now, they had spent the whole day in the Bison. “Ha! What a daring escape, me freeing myself from bondage to defend a kid from convicts! Not to diminish your-”

 “Hey, wait, _fuck_ no.” Lionesse stopped walking, turning and looking at Beagle, “I freed you, and you barely did _shit_ . It was _not_ a ‘daring escape’. You asshole.”

  “Yeah, well I’m heading to join the others in the casino. Good luck kid.” Beagle said as he jogged off towards the casino.

 “Hey! Wait you- Asshole!” Lionesse called, deciding to see if any other powder gangers were around. It wasn’t much use killing Beagle, she didn’t want to get killed just yet. At least not by townsfolk. Lionesse looked at the rollercoaster, wondering if any other convicts were up there, it was a good vantage point after all. She headed up one side first, where a small balcony sat above the entrance of the Bison Steve. She found a pair of binoculars, a bottle of vodka, some psycho, some med-x,and a canister of jet. Lionesse left the med-x and psycho, she disliked needles after all, and grabbed everything else. She then headed up the other side of the rails, having to climb up partially thanks to how collapsed the roller coaster was. “Don’t look down. Don’t looked down,” Lionesse reminded herself as she reached the top of the coaster. She saw a convict walking along the planks, he hadn’t noticed her yet.

  Lionesse grabbed her pistol from it’s holster and pushed off the safety. She crouched down, heading towards the convict as he headed towards her. She raised her pistol stopping and firing two shots at the convict. He stumbled backwards, tripped, and fell over the railing. He screamed as he fell, Lionesse closing her eyes as she listened to the sickening crunch of his body hitting the ground. “At least it wasn’t me. At least it wasn’t me,” Lionesse said softly as she opened her eyes. She stood up slowly, hand gripping the rail. She saw no other convicts down the coaster, so she quickly holstered her gun, turned and headed back down the coaster.

  When her feet were firmly planted on the ground again, Lionesse decided to check around back, “Why leave a job half-assed? It could come bite you in the end.” Lionesse headed around the wall of the Bison, watching behind her back as the sun set over the mountains. It would be dark soon, and she had nowhere to sleep, but she continued towards the next length of rail behind the Bison, noticing another moving figure outlined against the darkening sky. Lionesse guessed she didn’t notice him soon enough, a spray of bullets landed on the wall beside her. She stayed crouched and ran towards the rails, stopping just a split-second too long at the base of the fallen rollercoaster, another shot fired directly at her. She felt a burning sensation against her right cheek and shoulder as she reached for her gun.

   Blood ran down her cheek, and she felt like her shoulder was on fire as she lifted her gun and fired a clip at the convict. Most of the bullets missed, but she knocked him with a shot to the leg. She reloaded another clip into her gun, grunting in pain as she walked towards the convict. She fired another few shots, killing the man. She holstered her gun, ran a gloved hand down her burning cheek, and looked at it. Her glove was shiny-wet with blood, and she could feel the bullet in her shoulder. She pushed her hand against her shoulder, and stepped over the corpse to continue back into the hotel. She was going to need to get the bullet out of her shoulder, but first she needed a good place to rest, and the hotel seemed the best place. She continued along the rail until she reached the door to the hotel, and stepped inside. She shut the door, leaned against it, and noticed how much blood covered her vault suit. She looked like a crime scene. She needed a change of clothes, a doctor, and a rest, and she would have to provide those things herself. “Could be worse,” She said softly as she slid into a sitting position against the door, still holding her shoulder, “I could be dead.”


	7. Continuing Her Adventure

After a few minutes, Lionesse picked herself up and started down the hall. She turned the corner and was met with two options, continue forward or turn right. She continued down the hall, turning to the left to an open hotel door. Lionesse stepped inside, noticing the old skeleton under the desk. She decided that this wasn’t a good room, and walked back out, turning back the way she came and turned left down the other hall. There was a closed door to her right, which opened to a mostly empty hotel room. _‘At least there's no corpses,’_ Lionesse thought as she closed the door behind her. She opened the suitcase to look for a change of clothes, finding only old papers. She put her bag on the bed, then she tossed the suitcase to the ground, then headed to the dresser. She needed a new set of clothes before she fixed her wounds.  She then remembered the leather armor she still had in her pack. She emptied her pack of the robot, grabbing the medical supplies she had and the armor. She painfully pushed the desk in front of the door, put the scattered supplies on it, and stripped to her skivvies.

 She first cleaned her wounds, then grabbed something that looked like a pair of tweezers mixed with a pair of pliers and scissors. Lionesse sat down on the swivel chair in the room, and started trying to remove the bullet. There were no doctors nearby, and she didn’t want to get an infection. She was able to get a sturdy hold on the bullet, grimacing and tearing-up in pain. She took a breath and started pulling it out slowly, which hurt even worse than putting the pair of scissors-tweezers-pliers. Tears were falling down her cheeks now, but the bullet was nearly out. It took a minute, but she pulled out a small, black, rounded pellet from her shoulder. That explained why she not only got shot in the shoulder, but also got grazed by another bullet in one shot. He had buckshot. She had probably also gotten a bullet to the chest, but avoided it thanks to her vest.

Lionesse cleaned herself with two of the unpurified waters she found, then dried herself off with an old towel from the bathroom. She cleaned up her shoulder with alcohol and bandaged it, then stuck a band-aid over her head-wound.  The cut on her cheek had stopped bleeding, so she didn’t bother to cover it. She then checked the dresser for anything she could comfortably sleep in. There was a tee shirt and some fancy-looking pants. They would probably feel better than leather armor. She put the over-sized clothes on, and laid down in the old bed. She was exhausted after all the excitement in the day and fell asleep quickly.

 

* * *

  


Lionesse awoke with a start, then winced in pain as she sat up. Her shoulder was more sore than anything, but so was the rest of her body. Being thrown to the ground by a landmine wasn’t exactly painless. She got up, grabbed her armor, and headed to the bathroom. When she came out, she was wearing the sticky way-too-big outfit and gathered her stuff. She put everything back in her pack, and put it onto her back. The pressure on her shoulder was excruciating, but it was better than lugging it over one shoulder. She clipped her belt back on, slung her shotgun over her pack, and moved the desk out of the way. She’d head straight to Nipton today, if she could help it. She headed down the hall and out the door she came in from. It was very bright outside, she had slept through noon. Lionesse headed down the rollercoaster, covering her face at the now-rotting smell of the convict she had killed the day before. She noticed a man running towards her, and grabbed her pistol, ready to shoot if he tried something.

  “Hey! Nice to see a friendly face, almost took you for a convict I did. The name’s Holmes, Malcolm Holmes.”

 “Um, hi?”

 “Would you care to trade? I’m missin’ a few essentials and-”

 “Rob me and I’m gonna blow your head out your ass.” Lionesse growled, taking the safety off her gun.

 “What? No, no! Look, I’ve been followin’ you for a good bit now-”

 “Creep! Why the _hell_ are you following me?”

 “Hey, it started out innocently enough, I was traveling and saw you pick up one of them blue-star caps. You didn’t show any reaction so I figured you didn’t know what you’d picked up.”

 “What the fuck? I’m leaving! And stop following me or I’m gonna show you what a bullet looks like running through your skull!” Lionesse yelled, walking as fast as she could past the man.

  “Hey! Just do me a favor and keep any of those star caps you find. And watch out for a man named Allen Marks, he’s killed people to get his hands on those caps!”

 Lionesse muttered a ‘whatever’ and continued down the road, speed walking. She only started pacing herself when she reached the neighborhood, glancing back to make sure that ‘Malcolm Holmes’ wasn’t following her. She continued down the road, reaching the end where a playground and radiation pit sat. She skirted past it and stopped by a large rock, which was blocking her path. She clambered on top of it, standing up and looking out over the desert.

 There was a wide, empty expanse, which rose upwards into mountains in the distance. On top of one of them, two large gray figures stood shaking hands. Closer to her, following the road was a station, there were some blurry figures outside of it. Lionesse slid down the rock, then jumped down the small cliff and headed towards the station. She looked around at the empty desert, surprised that she couldn’t see more, there were dust devils all over the empty plain. She then focused back on the station, which was a good walk away. She grabbed her box from her pack, unlocking it and taking out a vial of jet. She then put her box back and started on the vial.

  After a few minutes, she put the empty vial into her pocket. She could now make out the distant shapes of men, two of them, standing outside the station. She was too far away to be seen by them, they had their backs turned. She grabbed a few sticks of dynamite and the lighter she had gotten. She continued towards them until she was within gun-shot range. She crouched down and waited a moment, watching them. They hadn’t seen her, so she lit a stick of dynamite and tossed it. They didn’t notice until it was too late, both of them being thrown a considerable distance away from the blast. Lionesse stalked forward slowly, keeping another stick of dynamite and the lighter in hand. She crept towards the first man’s corpse, checking his pockets, there were 2 sticks of dynamite. She looked up, noticing a few more figures heading towards her.

  Lionesse readied another stick, watching them warily. One of the figures pointed at her, then another one started firing. Lionesse lit the stick, then threw it. It bounced once, then rolled toward them. One of them jumped away, then it exploded. The group scattered, one of them surviving the blast. Lionesse pulled out her pistol, and finished the woman off with a shot to the head. Lionesse rose slowly to her feet, going over to check out the bodies. They didn’t carry much, she only pulled off 9 bottlecaps, 3 sticks of dynamite, a bottle of beer, a bottle of unpurified water, a cup of noodles, some potato chips, and a vial of jet. Lionesse continued to the station, hearing people inside. She pulled her shotgun off her back, undid the safety, and opened the door.

 There were 2 people inside, and both reacted a split second too late. Lionesse fired once, the person to her left went down. Lionesse fired again, and the person in front of her went down. She quickly reloaded her gun, kicking the bodies to make sure they were dead. One woman carried a beer, the other carried a bottle of unpurified water, a vial of jet, and a bottle of scotch. Lionesse checked the room, grabbing a magazine called ‘guns and bullets’ off one of the desks. She grabbed the coffee pot off the table against the wall, after she took out the armor she had enough room to add more things.

  She opened the door to the hall, checking the doors along the side, which were both empty bathrooms. She checked the door at the end of the hall, a jail cell containing nothing more that a few skeletons and the corpse of a giant mantis. Lionesse closed the door and headed back outside. The sun was slowly moving towards the horizon, though it would be a few more hours before it completely disappeared behind the mountains. Lionesse continued down the road towards the hill in the distance.

 

* * *

 

  As she walked, Lionesse noticed a gas station near the bottom of the hill. She headed towards it, maybe she could find some more stuff. As she neared it, she noticed something crawling around near the station. She readied her shotgun, watching as the creature noticed her and began scurrying in her direction. It was giant scorpion, and Lionesse wasted no time shooting it down. Her first shot missed, but the second one met its mark and the creature stopped it’s pursuit. Lionesse quickly reloaded as the other two scorpions started towards her. Lionesse took both of them out with a shot each, reloaded, and headed towards the station. If there were scorpions around, maybe it had discouraged scavengers like her.

  Lionesse reached the door, she pushed it open with one hand. She turned on her pipboy light, looking around the station with her eyes in the sights of her shotgun. There was nothing, she holstered her shotgun to explore. The first thing she noticed was a green box on a shelf, gum drops. The name sound familiar, and she opened it. It was candy, and she remembered she hadn’t eaten all day. She popped one of the candies into her mouth as she looked around. Against the wall, there was a shelf, a magazine and a bottle of unpurified water sat on it. She put them in her pack and continued looking around, walking towards the counter. There were 4 caps, which she stuck in her pocket, as well as a book. It didn’t have anything on it, so she flipped through it. It was some kind of journal or diary. She put it back, it was of no use to her. She grabbed the vodka behind the register and continued her search.

  On the floor, a box of blamco mac n’ cheese sat, Lionesse picked it up as well. She checked the old coolers, finding two cans of cram. In the metal box beside it, she found 11 caps and 2 bottles of unpurified water. She then walked over to the cabniet behind the counter, pulling on the handle. She nearly dropped it on herself when it didn’t budge, so she tried twisting the handle. It was locked, and it looked nothing like the simple locks she had picked before. She left it alone, searching instead the metal box beside it. Inside there were small cylinders, she looked them over, and they looked useless. She checked the sacks beside the box, and found a rotting steak. The two others held a bottle of rad-x, 2 bottles of unpurified water, another cup of noodles, and 2 boxes of sugar bombs. She was barely able to fit the last box into her pack, even when she left a can of cram out. She checked the register, there were 3 bobby pins and a good handful of caps.

  Lionesse finished the box of gumdrops, tossing the box to the side. She opened the can of cram and sat down on the counter. She had found a spoon in one of the sacks, and scooped the fake meat out of the can. It didn’t taste as good as the gecko jerky, but it would do. After she finished, she pulled out one of her two boxes of fancy lad snack cakes and a nuka cola. She noticed the pain in her shoulder again, taking off the pack. She ate and fiddled with her pipboy, accidentally turning on the radio. She jumped, but found the noise besides the silence comforting. She listened to the radio quietly, watching the way the light made the shadows of the station jump while she ate. The music paused, and a voice came on the radio, making Lionesse jump again at the sudden loudness of the voice.

 “A package courier found shot in the head near Goodsprings has reportedly regained consciousness, and has made a full recovery.”

 “Hey! He’s talkin’ about me!” Lionesse said through a mouthful of snack cake.

 “Now that’s a delivery service you can count on.” The radio man said, "Gonna play a song for you right now, and it's about that special someone you find only once, in a Blue Moon."

 Lionesse listened to the radio as she finished her food and got ready to continue up the hill. Before she left, she turned off the radio, it would make her a walking beacon of noise. She put her pack back on and headed for the door. She opened it into a dark desert. “I haven’t been awake _that_ long, have I?” She asked herself softly as she continued towards the hill. She turned off her pipboy light, not only would she attract bugs, but animals were also very interested in bobbing lights. The statues atop the hill were lit up by large spotlights, making them beacons for bugs as well. Lionesse watched the bugs dance in the light, then focused on not tripping on anything as she headed up the hill.

  Lionesse felt as the heat was sapped from the desert, leaving her cold. She hugged herself and listened to the sounds of the desert. As she listened, she started thinking,

 _‘There could be someone following you, like that Malcolm guy, and you would never know.’_ and _‘There could be a giant scorpion right beside you, and you would never know.’_ Lionesse scared herself with these thoughts, and as she neared the halfway point, she heard something that sounded like a growl. A _dog’s_ growl. Lionesse jumped, and then bolted up the hill. She felt like the dog was chasing her, and she ran as fast as she could. Her foot caught on a stray can, and she stumbled again, this time landing face-first in the dirt. She scrambled to stand up, and continued running up the hill. She nearly lost her hat, but pulled it down before it flew off.

  In minutes, breathing heavily, Lionesse reached to safety of the floodlights. She risked a look behind her, and found nothing. There had been _nothing_ following her, she had simply scared herself silly. When she looked back at where she had run to, there were soldiers and brahmin loitering around in the moderate safety of the light. Lionesse sighed in relief, and headed towards them. They were eyeing her suspiciously, and Lionesse felt they had good reason to, she probably looked like she had been tossed in the dirt. Which, in a way, she had. She noticed that no-one had told her to piss-off yet, or just straight-up shoot her, so she felt she was safe. She walked up to one of the soldiers, “Do you have anywhere I could sleep?”

  “Yeah, I guess, it’s in the building over there. Good luck finding an empty bed kid.” The man said, gesturing to the building surrounded by a ramp. Lionesse thanked him and headed towards it. When she entered it, she was hit full-force with the smell of alcohol. She reeled momentarily, but then continued in. There was a lady sitting at the bar, her head down as she sipped a bottle of whiskey. Lionesse tapped her on the shoulder, and she nearly got knocked down by her whipping around.

  “Looking for trouble?” The woman snarled.

 “Um, no. Just wanted to ask some questions.”

  “Got no time for you or your dumb questions.”

  “You alright?” Lionesse asked, sitting down beside the woman, “You look like you’ve got all the time in the world.”

 “Alright? No, I’m not ‘alright.’ I’m drinkin’ to forget, and it’s only getting me mad instead. Whiskey always gets my temper up, now more than ever. Used to cause all sorts of trouble back west, before a punched enough people, that is. Then they learned to lay low when the whiskey hit.”

 Lionesse chuckled, “Sounds like fun. What are you tryin’ to forget?”

  “Lost my caravan heading north, driver burned to ashes. They didn’t even take the cargo, they just burned that too.”

  “Doesn’t sound like raiders.”

  “My guess is Legion, trying to cut off NCR supply lines. The Mojave outpost is proof, got us locked up tighter than a New Vegas virgin.”

  “A New Vegas _what?”_ Lionesse asked, confused.

  “Forget it, there’s no caravans coming in or out. Tried arguing with Jackson, says ‘the roads aren’t safe.’ No shit you washed out old fuck-up, didn’t need a brotherhood scribe to tell me that.”

  Lionesse laughed, she liked this woman’s sense of humor. “So who’s Jackson?”

  “NCR trooper, officer, whatever- runs the place. He’s over at the main building, the one without the bar. Jackson won’t let me head north, ‘it’s not safe.’ Even though my caravan’s gone, my caravan papers are keeping me here.”

  “Sounds rough.”

   “Not as rough as you look.”

   “Heh, could I ask you a question?”

   “Sure kid, why not?”

  “What can you tell me about here? The Outpost?”

  “You're lookin’ at it, it’s a watering hole without much to brag about. It’s like a brahmin drive gone wrong- suppose to be gate north, but you come here, you get caught in the pen. Better to head back home. If you don't have a gun and a will, don't matter what you came to reach here, you'll just get caught starin' at the monument all fuckin’ day."

  "That fuckin' movement outside is what exactly?"  
  "Heh, it's Like the NCR showing it's dick to all the east. If they put as much effort into protecting the east as they did those two asinine statutes outside, that monument'd be worth it. But two statues of men shaking hands covered in blood don't seem to be nothin’ to brag about."   
"Covered in blood? Whatta mean by that?"   
 "I'm speakin' figurative, ain't any blood on their damn hands. 'course when Caesar comes walkin' through here, they'll be blood for real. And after the blood dries in the sun, he'll melt that piece of jet-induced sculpture down and reshape it into a bull. Which by my reckoning is making up for a deficiency of his. And no matter the state of his pecker, he's giving the west a good fucking."   
"Yuck. What's your name anyway?"   
 "Cass, you got a name kid?"   
 "Sure do, call me Lionesse."

 “Kinda like the-” Cass didn't get the chance to finish. The bartender stepped over to them, she put her hands on the counter and was smiling.

  “Looks like it took a kid to get Cass talkin’. What are you doin’ here anyway kid? Looking to join the NCR or are you with a caravan?” The lady asked.

  “Neither. Just passin’ through. I heard this place might've got a bed to spare.”

  “Sure do, back corner to the left, closest to the bar, top bunk.”

  “Thanks! I think I'm going to go for a walk first. See you later Cass!” Lionesse said, hopping off the bar stool. Cass’s face returned to a scowl.

 “Yeah, see you Lionesse.”

  Lionesse walked out into cold night desert again, walking over to one of the picnic tables. She sat down and put her pack beside her. She shifted through it, taking out her box. She looked over the robot as well, she could try fixing it when she went back inside. Lionesse opened her box and took out another one of the little red inhalers. She took a breath of it, held it in for a second, then slowly breathed out. She watched the vapor spin out of her mouth and into the air. It looked like a cloud, and Lionesse swiped a hand through it; it disappeared. She finished the inhaler off after another few minutes, then re-packed her bag. She headed inside, waving to the bartender and Cass as she walked past.

  “Back left corner, closest to the bar.” Lionesse said softly as she entered the room. There were a _lot_ of bunks, she had to work her way around all of them. She reached the one that the lady had told her about, and climbed up to the top bunk. She sat down, taking off her pack and pulling out the robot and all it’s pieces, as well as the ones she had picked up. Maybe _now_ she could fix it. She reattached the antennas, then opened the back panel. She started working on it, replacing pieces, moving some around, making sure some would spin right.

  After a good bit of tinkering, the robot started whirring loudly, _very_ loudly. Lionesse jumped, dropping the robot, which fell towards the floor. Suddenly, the robot rose up, still with it’s back panel open, and hovered. The whirring stopped, and the robot beeped cheerfully. _“Whoa!”_ Lionesse exclaimed, putting her hands up to her mouth, “It works! It really works!”

  The robot beeped in response, and Lionesse griined, flapping her hands in excitement, "You work! That's awesome!"

   Lionesse then noticed a plate on it’s side. It read ED-E, “E-D-E? Is that your name?”

 The robot beeped, seeming to shake it’s whole body as a ‘no.’

 “Um, e-d-e, eh-duh-eh. Eh-duh-E, Eddy! Is your name Eddy?”

 The robot beeped, bouncing up and down. Lionesse remembered that she needed to fix his back panel again. "C'mere. I've gotta put this back on."

   ED-E let her replace the back panel. Lionesse yawned, "I'm all done."

  ED-E beeped happily.

 “Could you stay there, and keep quiet maybe? I’m tired now, so I’m gonna sleep.” Lionesse said with a yawn, suddenly tired. ED-E beeped softly in response. Lionesse put all her stuff back in her pack and laid back on the bunk. She covered her face with an arm to block the light. She had a robot now, a _robot_ , and it _beeped!_ Tomorrow, she and ED-E would continue on their search to find Benny. After a few minutes, Lionesse was fast asleep with ED-E hovering nearby, bouncing gently in the air.


	8. To Nipton

 Lionesse awoke with a start, then grunted in pain. ED-E beeped worriedly, hovering closer. Lionesse waved him off, “I’m fine Eddy. Just my shoulder.”

 She grabbed her pack again, put on her hat, and hopped off the bunk, landing with a solid thud. A few people loitering around the room jumped, and Lionesse smirked. She walked past the other bunks and into the bar. Cass wasn’t sitting at the bar, so Lionesse assumed that she was asleep. She waved at the bartender as she passed by, who waved back. Lionesse then walked out the door, holding it so ED-E could follow her out. She noticed people were giving the robot mean looks, but she didn’t understand why.

 Lionesse turned and headed back the way she come last night, and noticed a ramp leading to the roof of the bar. She headed up it, noticing that the boards weren’t nailed down correctly and were very wobbly. When she reached the top, she noticed a pale ranger, someone even paler than her. The woman turned and looked Lionesse up and down, and glanced at ED-E as well. "You a courier? If so, this might be your lucky day, if your eyes are good and you're up for a bit of walkin'."  
"What's the work?"   
 "I think there's trouble in Nipton- no traffic from the roads and while I can explain that away, the smoke from the town I can't. I'm sure it's been hit, but what I need to know is if anyone survived it. Might be powder gangers with all that smoke in the air. If anyone's left, they'd be in the town hall. Go there, check it out, let me know what you find."   
"I'll do it, I'm headin' that way anyhow."   
 "Alright. Look at you all fired up and ready to go. Wish the others around here had that kind of attitude. Listen, I don't want you getting yourself killed. So if you go there and run into trouble, I'm asking you for eyes and ears. Not your life."   
 "Alright."   
"Good luck"   
 "Thanks." Lionesse said as she turned and walked down the ramp in a daze. ED-E followed behind, beeping in wonder. “People are weird.” Lionesse said softly as she reached the bottom of the ramp. She shook her head, “I feel like I’ve seen a ghost.”

 Lionesse headed out of the gate and passed the caravaneers. She was about to ignore them when she noticed a black coat on one of the brahmin. It was made of black leather, and it was a bit big too. It’d fall around her ankles, and she could roll up the sleeves. Lionesse walked over, and looked down at the merchant watching her.

“How much?”

“700 caps. No bargaining, but I do take trade.”

 Lionesse looked taken aback, “That much?”

 “That much, it’s hard to find dusters like this now.”

 “Uh.” Lionesse really wanted to coat. She sat down in front of the brahmin and put her pack in her lap. She started going through her stuff, and decided to sell whatever she didn’t need. She _had_ to have that coat. She only had 190 caps. She started pulling out items, and the merchant watched, listing prices for items.

 Lionesse ended up selling her pork and beans, all of her Sunset Sarsaparilla, all of her Nuka Cola, all of her Atomic cocktails, all of her beers, all of her Scotch, all of vodka, all of her whiskey, all of her wine, a bottle of Hydra, 2 cups of noodles, her Blamco Mac and Cheese, her Cram, a bottle of Rad-x, and 2 boxes of  Sugar Bombs. She also had to give up all but 6 of her caps. The merchant looked surprised that she had all of it in her pack. Lionesse pushed it all towards him, “i want the duster.”

“Sure, sure. Take it, it’s your’s.” the merchant said, collecting everything up to put on the brahmin. Lionesse took down the duster off the hanger, which was hooked to a rope holding the packs together. It was her size, and it looked new, not a rip or scuff anywhere. There was some dust, but it came off easily with a swipe of the finger. She folded it up nicely to put in her pack, taking out her box. She then remembered she was almost out of jet. She put her new duster in her pack and looked back at the merchant.

“Have you got any Jet?”

 “Any what? You a druggie kid?”

 “Sure, whatever. You got any?”

 “Yeah, but what are you trading? I know you’re broke now.”

 Lionesse grumbled and looked through her pack again. She had 5 stimpacks, it’s not like she was going to use them. The needles looked scary. “Two stimpacks. How much Jet will that get me?”

 “Seven vials, with 16 caps left over.”

  “Give them to me, how much is that?” Lionesse tapped a small box labeled ‘repair kit- knife’

 “Ten caps.”

 “And this?” Lionesse tapped the a box labeled ‘repair kit- rifles/shotguns.”

 “Also ten caps.”

  “I’ll buy the Jet, and these two boxes.” Lionesse took 4 caps from her pocket, then noticed one of them was a star cap. She replaced it with a normal one and handed the stimpacks and caps over. He handed her a handful of Jet vials. Lionesse took them and stuck as many as she could in her box, she could put 5 in it. There were 2 left over which she simply put in one of the side pockets of her pack. She put her box away and grabbed the two repair kits. She looked inside the one labeled ‘knife’, which contained a stone, a rag.

“Hey! You cheated me!” Lionesse exclaimed, looking up at the merchant.

 “No I didn't. Rag to clean your knife, whetstone to sharpen it. It’s what every knife-owning person needs.”

 Lionesse took out the rock, looking it over. "How does it work?

The merchant groaned, “Like this, give me your knife.”

   Lionesse handed him her combat knife.

The man ran the stone at an angle along the blade, making a scraping sound. He did it again to the other side of the blade. Lionesse could see where the stone had scraped it. It would probably take some time to sharpen it well.

 “Oh! Thank you.” Lionesse took back the blade and stone. She then put her knife in her sheath, the stone in the box, and put the box in her pack. She checked the shotgun box, which contained a rag, some oil, a screwdriver, a box of screws of various lengths, and some tape. She could see how it was useful, and put it in her pack as well. “Thanks for the stuff!”

“No problem kid! Thanks for the caps!”

 Lionesse headed back towards the statues to continue down the hill towards Nipton. She could see that there was a large swath of desert to cover before she reached the town. She started down the hill, wondering where she could change into her new coat. ED-E followed a few feet behind her, bobbing in the wind. Lionesse noticed that some frames had open backs, she felt that if she could find an empty one, she could change.

 When she reached the bottom, she noticed a mostly empty trailer. She told ED-E to stay outside, and climbed in. There were crates of Nuka Cola bottles everywhere, with more small crates in the back. Lionesse headed towards the back, and noticed there was something in one of the crates. She picked it up, and realized it was a potato. There were two, and she stuck them in her pack. She stepped onto the back of the trailer and put her pack down. There were two more crates, one of which held some kind of white nut. Lionesse recognized them and ate them, then ate the agave fruit in the second crate.  
 Lionesse pulled off the leather armor, but left the fabric underneath. It was a breathable material, and she pulled her bullet-proof vest over it. She then pulled out the new duster, and pulled it on. She buttoned 3 of the 6 buttons, and put her weapon belt around her waist. She then folded the sleeves inward so only the cuffs showed, which was at her wrist. She put all the leather bits into her pack, and put it back on. She was much cooler in the duster, and it wasn’t sticky on the inside. She headed back out of the trailer, where ED-E floated, waiting.

 “Let’s go buddy.”

 ED-E beeped in response, and they headed down the road towards Nipton. The sun was still a while away from the middle of the sky, they might be able to make it to Nipton by eleven, if they didn’t run into trouble. As they neared the crumbling part of the road, Lionesse switched on her radio. She could now see anything coming towards her, so she didn’t worry about attracting anything. When she looked up again, she noticed a giant scorpion lying in the middle of the road. Lionesse assumed it was sleeping, and pulled out her shotgun.

 As she neared it, she noticed that part of its torso was ripped open, and there were other big things scurrying away from it. Ants, Lionesse realized, they were ants. ED-E suddenly blared music and flew after the ants, lighting two on fire with his laser. Lionesse looked stunned, watching as the robot quickly and efficiently obliterated the bugs. She stopped near the scorpion, looking at the charred remains of the ants. Her robot was strong, and it could light things on _fire._

  ED-E flew back over to Lionesse, beeping merrily. A grin grew over Lionesse’s face, “That was… Badass. Yeah!” Lionesse held her hand up at ED-E.

  ED-E beeped and bumped himself against Lionesse’s hand.

 “Yeah! Let’s keep going!” Lionesse said. She turned and continued down the road. In the distance, she could see a billboard, and some destroyed buildings between her and Nipton. They both kept an eye on the desert to their sides, they could be attacked by whatever lurked behind the rocks in the distance.

  As they neared the billboard, Lionesse noticed a campfire going. She grabbed her shotgun off her back. “Eddy,” The robot beeped in attention, “Go check it out. I think there’s people here.”

 ED-E zoomed forward towards the fire. He hovered near it, spinning in a slow circle to see if there was anyone nearby. He turned back to Lionesse, and beeped. Suddenly he stumbled out of the sky, a gunshot ringing out. He caught himself and flew upwards, firing at a line of people against some rubble. Lionesse ran over to help him. Lionesse killed the first person, and ED-E killed another. The last two ducked behind the rubble, and fired from safety. Lionesse crouched behind a fallen wall to reload. ED-E hovered next to her.

 “What are we supposed to do?” Lionesse asked, her question punctuated by a bullet connecting with the wall she was hiding behind.

  ED-E beeped, shaking himself back and forth.

  “Could you kill them? Or distract them?” Lionesse asked, standing up again. She ran her hand against ED-E’s hull. He had received a dent from the gunshot. It didn’t look deep. “I don’t think they’re gonna be able to destroy you with,” Another gunshot hit the ground a few feet away, “Whatever they’re using.”

 ED-E bobbed enthusiastically, beeping a confirmation.

  “Alright. Ready? Set. Go!” Lionesse yelled. ED-E flew towards the enemy’s lines, and they responded with gunfire. Lionesse ducked and ran towards them, hopping over the line of rubble. She hit the first person with the butt of her shotgun, and he crumpled to the ground with a scream. The second person turned to Lionesse, and raised her gun. She was then struck with ED-E’s laser beam, and her hair and clothing caught fire. Lionesse finished her off with a bullet. She reloaded her shotgun and put it back over her shoulder. Four people. An ambush. She’d be dead without ED-E. or at least wounded.

  Lionesse crouched down to search the man’s pockets. He was wearing light leather armor, and he had 3 bottlecaps, a piece of prickly pear fruit, and a whiskey. Lionesse ate the prickley pear fruit in one bite and opened the bottle of whiskey. She hadn't drunk anything, and she was thirsty. She took a gulp, then started coughing and gagging. It felt like someone had lit a match and shoved it down her throat. She threw the bottle to the side, she wasn't drinking anymore of that.

 Lionesse walked over to the woman’s corpse, which was no longer burning. Lionesse grabbed the bag at the woman's side, which held a bottle of absinthe, 8 caps, a mutfruit, a bottle of dirty water, and a roll of duct tape. Lionesse put everything in her backpack besides the mutfruit, which she started eating as she walked over to the other two corpses. ED-E drifted beside her, bobbing in the wind.

 Lionesse crouched down next to another man’s corpse, part of his face had been burned by ED-E’s laser, and it had likely fried his brain in the process. Lionesse rummaged through his pockets with a free hand, and pulled out a Bobby pin and 7 caps. She then walked over to the last man. She checked his pockets, and found nothing useful.

 Lionesse stood back up, tossing the core of the mutfruit to the side. She headed back towards the road. ED-E drifted behind her. As they walked towards Nipton, the wind changed direction, hitting ED-E and Lionesse’s front. Her duster billowed out behind her, and she had to push her hat down to keep it on her head. She noticed her duster, and dashed forward a little bit. She looked like a superhero! Lionesse ran forward, making her pack bounce painfully against her shoulder. But she didn't stop, she thought she looked cool with her duster billowing like a cape.

 Suddenly, Lionesse ran face-first into a woman. She stumbled backwards. “Fuck!” Lionesse yelped, pulling her knife from it’s sheath in case the woman was hostile. The woman turned and jumped,  "Did you see that guy? He was gonna kill me!"  
"Ah! Sorry, are you alright?" Lionesse asked. She hadn't actually heard what the lady had said.   
"I am now. I was just minding my own business heading west when that psycho," the lady pointed to a man lying on the ground near the road, "Came out of nowhere and started shooting! He kept shouting about stars or something. Does that make any sense to you?"   
"Stars, stars.. Stars! Like the blue star bottlecaps! Yeah!"   
"Some what? Never mind I'm gonna take a few moments to compose myself, then head out. Thank you again."   
"Uh. No problem.." Lionesse was confused. The lady walked past her, and Lionesse headed towards the man's corpse. Suddenly, ED-E began his music, and the woman yelled. There was gunfire, and Lionesse jumped behind a rock near the road. She heard as the bullets connected with both the road and ED-E’s hull. Lionesse stayed ducked behind the rock, covering her head with her hands. After a few seconds, the gunfire ceased, and ED-E beeped. Lionesse stood up, seeing the charred body of the woman laying in the road. ED-E flew over, bobbing merrily. He had received a few more dents from the fight.

 “Nice job buddy! But you're all dinged up now.” Lionesse patted his hull and headed towards the lady's corpse. Lionesse crouched down and checked her pockets, pulling out a necklace of blue caps. There were 9 of them on the string.

  “People are weird and stupid. Why kill someone over blue caps? Why try to kill a kid for fuck’s sake?” Lionesse asked, turning and looking at ED-E. ED-E beeped. Lionesse shrugged, “It'd be great if I could know what you're saying.”

 Lionesse headed back towards the man’s corpse. Lionesse quickly noticed a small journal in his pocket. Lionesse grabbed it, and flipped through the pages. He was a scavenger, he was broke, day-to-day life. Lionesse flipped to the last entry. It said that he had just made a good few caps on scraps and had met the lady. “She's cute, but I'm not getting my hopes up,” Lionesse read. “She's pretty fucking cute but her personality kills.”

    Lionesse closed the book, “People are stupid, ED-E. Am I stupid?”

 He shook himself in response, beeping.

 “Let's get going ED-E.” Lionesse tossed the journal down onto the man's body, “We're almost there.”

  In the distance, Lionesse could clearly see fires burning. There was a lingering smell of smoke and burnt rubber in the air. Lionesse flipped off her radio, she hadn't even noticed it had been playing. She got back to the road and continued down towards Nipton.

 As she and ED-E got closer, the smell got stronger. The smell of fire and rubber and, something else. She had her face buried in her collar, and she didn't notice the man running toward her until it was too late.

 “Yeeaaahhh!” He yelled, pumping his fists in the air. Lionesse jumped and pulled her pistol from it's holster, and looked up. She pointed at the man, who froze.

 “Hey! What the fuck are you doing?” The man asked, looking between Lionesse and the gun.

 “Are you a powder ganger?” Lionesse asked, recognizing the outfit.

 “Yeah! No, but-”

 Lionesse didn't let him finish. She had already been betrayed once that day. She fired 3 shots, all of them landing solidly in his chest. He looked down at his wounds, then back up and Lionesse. She fired another 3 shots, and he fell. Lionesse reloaded her weapon, and holstered it again.

 ED-E beeped in confusion. Lionesse continued down the road, and was hit with the smoky rubber smell. The underlying smell had gotten stronger, it was the smell of death. Lionesse was hit with a wave of nausea, coughing. She doubled over and buried her face in her coat collar again. When she looked up again, she noticed the flags.

 The flags were crimson red, with golden yellow bulls. Lionesse was hit with a fuzzy memory, screaming and fire and a river. She looked away, whatever it was she had tried very hard not to remember it. She walked into the town, past the man's corpse and down the road. The tire-fires were littered in skeletons. That was likely the cause of the dead smell.

  When Lionesse turned down the road towards the town hall, she was hit with another wave of nausea. There were people on crosses lining the road. Most were powder gangers. Their faces were down and some of them moaned weakly as she passed. Lionesse's eyes were filled with tears, and she didn't notice the people standing around the town hall until she was upon them. There were dogs, and a man wearing a dog's head. She was hit with an overwhelming fear, and fell to her knees. She uncovered her face and coughed. Everything was blurry, and her head hurt alongside her stomach.

 Lionesse felt like she had been kicked in the stomach, and vomited. She hadn't eaten much, or drunken much. Most of it was bile. She didn't notice the dog-headed man was standing over her until she had stopped. She looked up at his face, finding it void of emotion.

 “Are you done yet?” the man asked in a cold voice. It send chills down Lionesse’s back.

 "Who the fuck are you?"  
"Who are you?"   
 "None of your fucking business." Lionesse stood up and stepped away from the pool of vomit. The man stepped around it and towered over her again.   
"Don't worry. I won't have you lashed to a cross like the rest of these degenerates. It's useful that you happened by."   
 "Why?" Lionesse asks in a soft voice. She took out her knife. She felt her adrenaline rushing.   
The man ignored her, "I want you to witness the fate of the town of Nipton. To memorize every detail. And then, when you move on?"   
The man paused, and leaned into Lionesse's face. She bared her teeth and made a growling sound. The man started again, "I want you to teach everyone you meet the lesson Caesar's Legion taught here, especially any NCR troops you run across."   
  "Your crimes are unforgivable, you murderer!" Lionesse yelled, swinging her knife at him. The man caught her arm, and tossed it to the side. Lionesse stumbled, then righted herself. She was crying again.   
  The man leaned back, "As are all crimes. If you feel strongly about it, attack us again. And soon you won't feel a thing."

Lionesse knew it wasn't a threat, it was a promise. She started backing away, and the man smirked. A few of the other men were watching, as were the dogs.

  Lionesse swiftly remembered that there were dogs, and took off running. She turned and ran back down the road, back the way she came. ED-E followed behind her.

 Lionesse didn't stop running until she reached the ruined buildings again. Her throat was dry, she was shaking, and she was still crying. Lionesse swallowed hard, and fell to her knees in the sand. She coughed again, puking whatever contents were left in her stomach. ED-E beeped worriedly beside her. Lionesse’s vision blurred, and she rolled onto her side, away from her vomit, and passed out.


	9. That-A-Way

Lionesse awoke, shaking and coughing. She lifted her head and looked around wearily. There were big, black birds around her. Vultures. “Rahh! Shoo you stupid birds! I’m not dead yet!”

  The birds flew off, leaving Lionesse alone. Then she noticed, she was alone, so where was ED-E? She pulled herself into a sitting position, her head throbbing. She swallowed, her throat was dry, and her mouth tasted sour. It took her a minute to notice, the sun was going down. She wouldn’t make it to the Outpost, it would be night by the time she did. Grabbing her pack, she stood up weakly, and headed towards the fire pit. She could stay there for the night. She remembered that there were bodies strewn around the camp, and she’d have to move them. The corpses had been torn into by the birds, and the smell of blood was strong. She sat down by the pit and took off her pack, opening it and grabbing a bottle of water. She drank it swiftly, tossing the empty bottle to the side.

  Lionesse remembered that she also hadn’t eaten anything, which explained her shakiness. She stood up again, she’d have to move the bodies before she did anything else. She shook the sand from her hair and clothes, walking towards the first corpse. A woman. Her chest had been torn open, and bloody entrails were strewn around her. Lionesse didn’t flinch, she grabbed her arm and dragged her away from camp. She then moved the man, who’s face had been torn apart. By the time she had drug all of the corpses away, the sky was pink and orange. Lionesse headed back to the firepit, and realized she would also need something for a a fire. She went to pull up all the brush she could, and, in the distance, she could see what looked like a small tree. It was in the middle of the desert, but not too far away. After piling all the brush nearby she set off to grab the green stuff off the tree.

  She reached it as the sky turned gray, she’d need to hurry back to light a fire. She went to grab her knife, and realized she didn’t have it. The man with the dog’s head had thrown it from her hand. Lionesse pulled the leaves from the tree, which took much longer than it should have, and headed back to camp. The sky was now black, and the desert was swiftly losing heat. When she reached the camp, she could barely see in front of her. There were sounds of coyotes in the distance, as well as some other, strange noise. She dropped her stuff on the pile, and turned on her pipboy light. She waved it around, seeing if anything was nearby. She saw nothing but the nearby pile of corpses, and she set herself to work to make a fire. She sat down, and pulled her box of matches from her pack. She struck it against the box, and held it near the dry brush.

  It slowly caught fire, Lionesse watching as the brush slowly grew into a flame. She leaned back and sighed, listening to the sounds of the desert. There was barking in the distance, and she stiffened in fear. She was all alone, she could get killed out here and no-one would ever know. She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She untied the pot from her pack, and filled it with two water bottles. She tossed in the two potatoes and carrots she had picked up on her journey. She wondered if she could add the dried gecko to it. She tossed in two strips and set it on the fire to cook. She felt small and alone in the wilderness. She grabbed the four old foam-beds and stacked them on top of each other and sat near the fire. She took off her hat, gloves, coat, and vest, setting them on a brick nearby. Lionesse grabbed the large spoon she had collected and stirred her concoction. She wasn’t sure if it was a hundred percent edible, but she was going to eat it anyway. While she waited for her food to cook, she replaced her bandages. They hurt less, but only while they were wrapped. Taking them off was painful, and the fresh bandages were painful as well. She then huffed a vial of Jet, gladly avoiding the oncoming headache.

  When she checked her stew again, it was warm enough to be eaten. The jerky had become softer, but it tasted more like wet meat than anything else. She ate the mushy potatoes and carrots as well. Finally full, she laid down and looked up at the stars. Her fire slowly died, and she covered herself with her duster. After a few minutes, she fell asleep.

 

 

 

  Lionesse felt it hadn’t been more than a few minutes when she woke up to shuffling. She immediately froze, then sat up. She turned on her pipboy light again and waved it around. She shined it onto her pack, there was something big snuffling around in her pack. She froze again, it looked like a dog. A coyote maybe, but it’s tail was all wrong. It lifted it’s head out of the bad, and Lionesse felt her blood run cold. It’s head was like a snake’s, it opened it’s mouth and hiss-growled at Lionesse. She stayed where she was and watched as the animal stepped towards her. It rattled it’s tail and growled again, stepping closer to Lionesse. The creature was near, and Lionesse went to pull her pistol. She didn’t have her weapon belt on, it was sitting on a brick, out of arm’s reach. The animal was within touching distance, and it sniffed Lionesse’s pipboy. She considered smacking it in the face, but decided that she couldn’t risk being bit.

  The animal stopped rattling it’s tail, and put it’s paws on her makeshift bed. It sniffed her, and Lionesse tried to stay still. It then stepped onto Lionesse’s body and continued sniffing her, then raised it’s head and barked at her. Lionesse looked at it in fear, it could kill her, and yet it was only standing on her. And it was _heavy._ Lionesse decided to risk hitting it with her pipboy. She raised it up and brought it down on it’s snout. It connected and the animal leaped backwards. It whimpered, then snarled and lunged at her. She rolled out of the way, towards where her weapons lay, and grabbed her pistol. The animal stalked towards her, rattling it’s tail and growling. Lionesse raised her gun and fired at the animal. It whizzed past the animal, and it lunged toward her again. Lionesse fired again, and the animal crumpled before it reached her.

  Lionesse dropped her gun, her hands shaking. She wasn’t sure why it had found her so interesting, after all, weren’t wild animals suppose to be _afraid_ of people? She slowly got back up and stepped over to the animal’s corpse. It had the body of a coyote and the head of a snake. It’s open mouth dripped venom onto the sand. It’s tail was like a rattlesnake’s, with a diamond pattern throughout it’s fur. Lionesse considered moving it, but didn’t want to risk getting bit. As she looked over it’s tail, it twitched slightly. Lionesse jumped back, watching as the animal’s tail twitched and jaws open feebly. It was much like a snake, and it could probably kill her if she tried to move it. Lionesse decided to smash it’s head in with a brick, it couldn’t bite her then.

  She grabbed a cinderblock from the rubble in the dark, and walked back over to where the animal lay. Lionesse realized that she might not have killed it, and hesitated. She then brought the block down hard onto the creature’s skull. It snapped and blood trickled from the animal’s mouth, as well as venom. She smashed the brick down onto it’s head a few more times, then tossed the brick to the side. The animal’s face was misshapen and bloody, venom and blood and fluid covered the ground. She highly doubted that it could kill her now. She grabbed the animal’s tail, which stiffened under her touch, and drug it away from her camp. She walked across the road and over towards the rocks. She kicked sand over it, then walked back to her camp. She remembered that the animal had been rummaging in her pack, and she worried for a moment. She ran across the road and over to her campsite.

  There was a mess of ripped plastic, it had eaten all of her gecko jerky. There were 3 sticks of chewed dynamite, and she didn’t trust them enough to keep them. Instead she threw them away from camp, and went back to assessing the damage. The potato crisps she had picked up were torn into, and a bite was taken out of one of the mutfruits. “Damn dog! Snake! Thing, whatever!” Lionesse yelled as she re-closed her pack. She had likely forgotten to close it. Upset and tired, Lionesse climbed back onto her make-shift bed and covered herself with her duster. She fell asleep again in minutes.

 

* * *

 

 

  Lionesse awoke again to a rising sun. She rubbed her eyes and looked tiredly around the camp. She noticed only that the vultures were back, and this time they weren’t cluttering around her. She stretched and got out from under her duster, standing up to put all of her stuff back on. She had survived a night alone in the desert, even if only barely. She collected up her supplies, dumping out pot and tying it to her pack again, then put back on her vest and duster. She put her gloves back on, put her hat atop her head, clipped back on her belt, and put her pack back on. After grabbing her fallen pistol and her shotgun, she was ready to head back to the outpost. She still hadn’t seen ED-E, and she was worried about her robot.

  Lionesse walked back down the road, leaving the ruined buildings and the burning town of Nipton behind her. She’d need to go back through there to grab her knife, if the man in the dog’s head hadn’t taken it. As she headed down the road, she noticed something in the distance. There was a person, a very pale person. They were running towards Lionesse, who drew her shotgun and continued towards the figure. It looked familiar, and there was something zooming beside the person that also looked familiar.

  It was ED-E and the Ghost Ranger, who had sent her on the mission. Lionesse raised her hand in the air and waved. The ranger continued running, slowing only when she was within yelling distance.

  “You’re safe! Oh thank God you’re safe. I couldn’t bear being responsible for the death of a kid.” The ranger panted as she walked towards Lionesse.

  “Why’ve you got my robot?” Lionesse asked.

  “He came to us last night, and he seemed worried. We couldn’t travel at night, so we had to wait to send help. The head ranger thought I should find you, since I sent you out on the mission after all. But you seem just fine, I’m not sure what the robot was worried about.”

 Lionesse gave a half-hearted chuckle, “He might be malfunctioning. I checked out the town hall, and there were men there. Called themselves ‘Caesar’s Legion,’ and they’ve killed everyone.” Her voice went from light-hearted to dark.

“Legion this far west? You're fucking kidding me.” The ranger panted, “That's not outside the border, they're moving in- and fast. Nipton wasn't the most friendly town but…”

   The ranger sighed, “All right. Thanks for checking on that, wish it set my mind at ease, now I'm more on edge than ever.

  “Sorry. Didn't mean to be the bringer of bad news.”

   “Unless you burned the town, don't take blame that's not due,” The ranger sighed again, “Things are gonna get uglier before the year's out. Thanks for hoofing it there, even if it was bad news. Wish we could spare the troops to go hunting, but orders are to stay put. Fucking Mojave going to hell, and all I can do is sit here and watch. Take care.” The ranger turned and started back for the Mojave outpost.  
  “You too.” Lionesse turned to ED-E, “Dammit Eddy. I’m fine, see. I’m alright.”

  The robot beeped sheepishly.

  “I wish you could speak. Let’s get moving, I want to reach Novac before nightfall.” Lionesse said, turning and heading the opposite direction, back towards the burning town of Nipton. She owed the outpost nothing, so she had no other reason to go back. She walked down the road, passing the corpses and the ruin buildings again. She turned back on her radio, the silence of the desert was eerie. ED-E bobbed behind her, and the traveled in silence to the burning town of Nipton.

  The sun was nearing the edge of the mountains when they reached the town again. Lionesse waited a few yards outside the town. The smell was bad, but closer it would be overwhelming. She had no cloth in her pack, so she couldn't cover her face. All she had was supplies and leather armor, and she couldn't cover her face with either of them. But she needed her knife. Lionesse pulled the collar up on her coat, the pulled her shirt up to her face. She then kept her eyes on the ground as she walked into the town. She glanced up only momentarily to see where she was going.

  The fires around the town were still burning, and the people on the crosses made no sound as she passed. She reached the spot where she had confronted the man in the dog’s head, and looked around for her knife. It was no longer on the ground. “Do you see my knife ED-E?” Lionesse asked, expecting no answer. Instead, the robot beeped and flew over to the steps of the town hall. There was something shiny laying on the bottom steps. Lionesse walked over, picking up her knife off the step.

  “So he moved it. Why?”

  ED-E beeped.

  “Let's just get to Novac.” Lionesse put her knife back into it's sheath, “Who cares what dog-man does. I've got my knife back, and that's all that matters.” Lionesse said as she started walking towards the train tracks. She walked past charred skeletons of houses And burning piles of tires covered in bones and pitch. The smell of smoke was seeping into her clothes, so she tried to walk as fast as she could out of the town. She walked around the houses and was back onto the road.

 “Welcome to Nevada” Lionesse said, reading the large green sign, “The Silver state.”

  Lionesse walked across the tracks and headed up the gently sloping road. There were a few car husks, and well as old traffic cones. There was even a skeleton. Lionesse fixed her collar as she walked, turning on her radio and humming along to the song playing. “The room was completely black,” Lionesse hummed as she smoothed her coat down and adjusted her hat, “I hugged her and, she hugged back.”

  Lionesse was paying more attention to herself than her surroundings. Suddenly, a beeping came from nearby, and Lionesse barely noticed. ED-E knocked Lionesse to the side, she landed on the ground as the mine exploded. A second explosion followed, and then some shouting and gunfire.

  “Dammit!” Lionesse growled as she rubbed dirt out of eyes, “Eddy, you saved my life!”

  A gunshot clanked against the car nearby, and Lionesse ducked again. ED-E played his fighting music and rushed forward. Lionesse pulled her pistol from her holster and put her back against the car. She leaned out, and barely avoided getting shot again. She readied her gun, chambered a round, and ran from cover. Gunshots followed her, and she fired at the source. There was a muffled curse, and ED-E was nowhere to be found, he was likely around the bend of the road. The gunshots stopped being aimed at her. There was someone on the cliff that had been firing at her, and she wasn’t sure she had killed them.

  Lionesse looked behind her, and back up at the cliff. They were hiding behind the rock, and she noticed that the gun they had was laying beside it. Lionesse quickly took off her pack and pulled out a stick of dynamite. She grabbed a match and closed her pack up. She struck the match against the cliff and lit the stick of dynamite. She tossed the stick upwards, and it struck the rock. Lionesse ran away as the fuse burned. It took less than 4 seconds, and the stick exploded. A cascade of debris fell from the cliff, rocks and sand and gore. Lionesse turned to see ED-E coming back from around the bend. He beeped triumphantly.

  “It was a good ambush. Are you hurt?” Lionesse asked looking over ED-E’s hull. She hadn’t been shot during the short fire-fight.

  ED-E beeped again, but Lionesse couldn’t distinguish an emotion.

  “I’m taking that as a no.” Lionesse said, putting her pistol back into it’s holster. “Let’s keep going.”

  ED-E beeped, bobbing in the air. Lionesse continued down the road, towards Novac. ED-E followed behind her. As they walked around the bend in the road, there were two more people lying dead, fried by ED-E’s laser. Lionesse stepped over to the first one, finding a vial of jet, a bottle of whiskey, and a vial of Med-X. Lionesse stuck the jet in her pocket and put the rest in her pack, walking over to the next corpse. Lionesse rummaged in the lady’s small satchel, and found another combat knife, as well as a cob of maize. It was uncooked, but it was still edible. Lionesse ate it as she walked up the hill, she hadn’t eaten anything that day anyway.

  As Lionesse walked up the hill, which curved towards a bridge. She tossed the center of the cob to the side. “Novac, that-a-way,” The sign pointed to the left, “And Searchlight that way.” The other sign pointed to the right.

  Lionesse was still hungry, but she continued down the road anyway. She noticed a farm to the left, and walked towards it. Maybe she could find food there. There was a patch of maize in the front, and Lionesse looked through the stalks to find an edible cob. All of them had either been eaten or rotted or were too dry to eat. She grumbled and walked out of the stalks, noticing an area of box-growers. She walked towards them, one or two of the plants must had food. As she walked closer, it became obvious that there wasn’t really any good plants. There were green plants with thin, tall stalks, and bright green leaves. There was also short plants, which also bore no fruit. Lionesse growled in annoyance, and ED-E behind her beeped. She looked up from the plants she was examining, and saw that one plant had pinkish-yellow fruit on it. She made her way over and picked them, they were rather small though, so there was only a good few mouthfuls of the fruit. She still felt hungry and wondered if she had anything in her pack. She took it off to check, and found a mutfruit. She was going to eat it, but when she took a bite, she found that there was some kind of bug inside of it.

  “Bloatfly, for all I know.” Lionesse said, tossing it to the side. She let out an exasperated sigh, then looked through her pack for something else. She found her final box of Fancy Lad’s snack cakes. She sat down and leaned against a box, eating them as quick as she could. She felt she should probably find more food as well, the farm seemed abandoned, so what was the harm in checking. After finishing the box and tossing it to the side, Lionesse stood up again. She then headed towards the shack on top of the hill. ED-E bobbed behind her. When she reached the door, she gently pushed it open, then noticing no-one was inside, stepped in.

  The shack was small and dusty, it might have even been ransacked. She noticed a cabinet on the opposite wall, as well as a shelf with a gun on it. She walked over and opened the cabinet, there was clothes and ammo. A box of shotgun shells caught her eye. She picked them up and tucked them in her pocket, she’d need them after all. She then moved onto the shelf, and the ammo box beside it. The shelf held nothing of her interest, even the rifle was cheap and not worth carrying. The ammo box held another box of shotgun shells, which Lionesse put in her pocket as well. ED-E hovered nearby, watching Lionesse scavenge.

  Lionesse scoured the rest of the shack for food, and fell short. She huffed angrily, and walked back outside. The sun was now high in the sky, but wouldn’t set for another few hours. She headed around the back to see if they kept any storage around the back. She found a Sunset Sarsaparilla crate, and opened it up. She was disappointed to find 3 empty bottles, and tossed the box to the side. It made a satisfying crash as it hit the sand. Lionesse stood back up and looked around. She noticed a lookout spot, and walked over to it as well. She found another ammo box, but she also found a stunning view. She could see the outpost, far in the distance. The giant statues looked small from the distance. The town of Nipton was smoldering still,  and the black clouds blotted out parts of the sky and desert. Lionesse looked away, and tried to focus on the task at hand. She opened up the box, and found a few 9mm bullets at the bottom of it. She put them in a pocket as well. Lionesse then turned and headed back towards the farmland area. ED-E followed behind, beeping at Lionesse,

  “What do you want?”

  The robot made a series of beeps and noises.

  “Sorry buddy, I don’t speak robot.” Lionesse sighed and walked back to the rows of boxes. She wondered if the green plants were edible, and pulled off a few leaves. She stuck them in her mouth and chewed them. It took her a second, and she spit them out coughing and gagging. They were bitter, and Lionesse spit and coughed the leaves out. She grabbed a bottle of water from her pack and swished it in her mouth. She took a few more mouthfuls, but the bitter taste of the leaves were still lingering in her mouth. “Gross.”

  ED-E made a beep similar to a laugh.

  “Oh shush you glorified tin-can.” Lionesse smiled at the robot, “You don’t even have a mouth.”

  ED-E made another laughing beep.

  “Let’s get going again. And not get side-tracked this time. We might be able to buy food there.” Lionesse headed down to the road again, this time walking towards the underside of the bridge. “Well, maybe after a short rest in the shade.”

  Lionesse and ED-E headed under the bridge, and Lionesse sat down, taking off her pack. She leaned against the support and took off her hat. ED-E hovered nearby. After their break, they would head to Novac to find whoever had tried to kill Lionesse. Or at least, their next whereabouts.


	10. Novac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW for implied past self harm!!

Lionesse grabbed a bottle of water from her pack, twisting it open and downing it in a few hasty gulps. She was nearly out of water, but she felt she was close to the town, so she could restock there. She flipped on her pipboy, looking at the map. She hadn’t used it before, and she was luckily going the right way.  After a moment, she noticed the sound of gunfire. She looked up, turning her head in the direction of the sound. There were people down the road fighting, three people in armor and four in red skirts.

  NCR and Legion.

  Lionesse panicked momentarily, but composed herself. She watched what was happening, as they didn’t seem to realize she was there. One legionary fell to the ground as a trooper was slashed across the chest. Another legionary stuck a spear through another trooper’s chest. The final trooper took down one more legionary before getting impaled by another spear. Lionesse watched in a mixture of awe and horror. It had been an unfair fight from the beginning, but the troopers had guns. The legionaries only held spears and machetes. The two surviving legionaries walked away from the corpses, leaving the bodies to rot in the sun. Lionesse looked away, hoping they wouldn’t come after her.

 

* * *

 

 

  Lionesse sat under the bridge for another half hour, watching fearfully in case the legionaries came back. If they could take down three armed troopers, they could kill her in an instant. After she felt enough time had passed, she wearily got to her feet. She put her pack back on, it pushed painfully against her wounded shoulder, and trudged to the battle scene. ED-E floated beside her. She crouched down next to the first corpse, an NCR trooper. She looked through his pockets, nearly pricking herself with a Med-X needle. She rummaged through the rest of them, grabbing a vial of psycho, a bottle of purified water, and a bottle of vodka. She could trade the chems and booze, if nothing else. She then stepped over to the other two trooper corpses, one of them carried a couple of pistol rounds, and a bottle of whiskey; the other one had a bottle of unpurified water, some shotgun shells, and another bottle of purified water.

  She then walked over to the Legionaries, she still wasn’t sure why the survivors hadn’t taken their corpses. She searched the small satchels they had on their belts, finding an antivenom,a handful of green seed pods of some sort, and some strange coins. The other legionary had a few shotgun shells, healing powder, some more of the seed pods, some more strange coins, and a bottle of water. Lionesse put everything away in her pack, then stood up to continue to Novac. She stepped over the legionaries’ corpses, continuing her walk down the road towards Novac.

   As Lionesse walked, she noticed some cacti to the side of the road. They had small pink buds on top of them, and she wondered if they were edible. She walked off the road towards them, ED-E beeping in worry. Lionesse waved him off, “I just want to pick them. Maybe they’re edible.”

  Lionesse pulled all the pink buds off the cacti, ending up with about a palmful of the small pink fruits. She’d read up on them later, she still had the book about Mojave plants. She put them in one of her pack’s side pockets, hoping they wouldn’t get squished. She then walked back up to the road and continued towards Novac. ED-E bobbed behind her. Lionesse hummed along to the radio, looking at the looming hill they were headed towards. There was also an outpost, which Lionesse assumed was where the NCR troopers had come from. She noticed that there was no one on watch as they walked past the outpost. She figured there would be, there were plenty of reasons to watch the road. On the other side of the road, there was a billboard advertising some prewar diner. Lionesse continued down the road, and as she neared it, she noticed that there was a pile of corpses beside it. Lionesse switched off her radio. ED-E beeped in curiosity.

  “Shh,” Lionesse hissed, “You’ll get us killed.”

  ED-E beeped a soft apology.

  Lionesse unholstered her shotgun, walking forward as quietly as possible. As they rounded the side of the billboard, Lionesse noticed the familiar sight if red skirts and leather tunics.

  Legion.

  Lionesse froze in place, watching them in fear. They were above her, on the hill behind the billboard. They glanced down at her and ED-E, their machetes ready in hand. They seemed to be ready for an ambush, but that ambush was not aimed at Lionesse and ED-E. Lionesse continued around the bend quickly, the last thing she wanted was for them to change their minds. When the Legionaries were hidden behind the rocks, she finally released the breath she had been holding. She took a few moments to let her breathing to return to normal. She slung her shotgun back over her shoulder, then kept walking down the road. She noticed a caravan walking in the same direction, and she ran towards them. She could use the safety in numbers. When she neared them, one of the mercs turned and looked at her.   
  “Hey! Kid, what are you doing?”

   “I’m…” Lionesse slowed down as she neared them. What was she doing? “Could I travel with you guys. At least until Novac?”

  The merc looked over at the merchant, who shrugged. “Why not? It’s not far. Where’s your parents?”

  “Thanks,” Lionesse sighed in relief, “I don’t have any. So I don’t know where they are.”

   The merc didn’t push, he shrugged and continued walking alongside the brahmin. Lionesse walked over to the merchant, “Have you got any food? I’m running low.”

  The merchant glanced over at her, “Sure do kid. But you’ve got to pay up, just like any other wastelander.”

  “How much will,” Lionesse thought for a moment, “12 unpurified water bottles get me?”

  “Well, I’ve got banana yucca fruit, some barrel cactus fruit, a cob of maize, a few stems of agave fruit, a bitter drink, and a bottle of purified water. That’s all you can afford, with one bottle left over.”

  “I’ll take it.”

   “Let’s get out of this gorge and we’ll trade.”

   “Sure.” Lionesse saw the town ahead, it wasn’t far now. She looked around at the caravan, there were two mercs, a caravaneer, and the merchant. They had two brahmin, both stacked high with packs. ED-E was hovering on the outside of the group, he beeped excitedly at the sight of the town.

  One of the mercs gave the robot a dirty look, “That robot yours kid?”

   “Sure is!”

   The merc looked at Lionesse, “Make sure it doesn’t make any trouble.”

    “Oh,” Lionesse’s face fell, “He won’t.”

    They reached the ends of the hills, and the caravan stopped. The merchant grabbed what she had promised, and Lionesse handed over the eleven bottles of water. “Thank you!”

  “No problem kid. There’s Novac, so this is where we part ways. See you kid.”

  Lionesse finished packing her bag, “See you around.”

   ED-E and Lionesse started towards the town. There were old houses and tents, a few barrel fires burned. Lionesse walked over one of the piles of rubble, ending up on another road. There was a tent to her left, it looked like a makeshift doctor’s office. She made a mental note to visit there later, and continued towards the dinosaur. As she neared the gate, she noticed the motel. She walked into the lobby, gesturing for ED-E to stay outside. The inside of the lobby was much cooler than outside, and there was a lady sweeping the floor.

  “Oh, well hello. Welcome to you. You look tired from the road. Why don't you relax a spell, let this fine town take care of you?”  
 “Um, well, I'd like to rent a room.” Lionesse walked over to the lady. She’d need a place to sleep that night.   
  “Well, I think that's a fine idea. I'll give you a good flat rate, and you can stay as long as you like. Least until busy season comes. Sound good?” The lady paused her sweeping, looking Lionesse up and down.   
 “How much?”   
  “One hundred caps.”   
  “I'll, um, pass for now.”   
  “Oh, well, alright.” The lady went to return to her sweeping. Lionesse held up her hands up in front of her to get the lady’s attention again.   
 “I'm also looking for a man in a checkered coat. Seen anyone like that?”   
  “Huh, well he might of been wearing a fancy suit, but he was no gentleman. Had his nose stuck so high in the air you couldn't see it above the clouds. City folk, they always think they deserve better than what they got.” The lady paused, “Why do you care about him anyway? He your dad?”   
  “Hell no!” Lionesse exclaimed, her arms falling to her sides again, “I-I mean, I'm just lookin’ for him.”   
  “Well those hoodlums seemed to know Manny, our daytime sniper. He's up in the dinosaur's mouth.”   
  “Thank you.” Lionesse said, turning and walking back towards the door.   
  “Watch for strangers.” The lady said, returning to her sweeping.

  Lionesse opened the door, “C’mon ED-E. I’ve got a sniper to talk to.”

  Lionesse headed to the gate, opened it, let ED-E in, then closed it. She looked around at the courtyard. The dinosaur sat to her right, and motel rooms stood to the other side of her. She walked towards the dinosaur, noticing a staircase and door on it’s side. She walked around the tail of the monument, noticing how big it actually was. It towered at least two dozen feet above her. She walked up the steps to the door, “Stay out here ED-E. I’ll be right back.”

  ED-E beeped a confirmation, and Lionesse walked into the dinosaur. There was a man sitting behind the counter.

  “Welcome! Come on in!”

  “Thank you,” Lionesse shut the door behind her, “Is the sniper up there?”

  “He sure is, but why’s-”

  “Thanks.” Lionesse said, cutting him off. She walked up the stairs to another door. She twisted the handle, rehearsing what she’d ask the man. She opened to door to be met face-to-face with the man she assumed was Manny.

  “What's going on kid?”

  “I'm looking for a man in a checkered coat.” Lionesse sputtered momentarily, stepping out of the doorway and closing the door behind her.

 “Why do you care about him kid?”

 “I've got a score to settle with him.”

  “Trying to stir up trouble?”

  “Always.” Lionesse set a hand on her hip.

  “Now why would he make trouble with a kid? “

  “I don't know. But I need information.”

  “And why would I tell you anything?”

  “I just need to know where his is.”

  “I'm not telling you kid. I think you should leave.” Manny reached around Lionesse to open the door. Lionesse quickly stepped forward, pulling her knife from her sheath and pointing to Manny’s chest. Manny took a step away from Lionesse, “What are you doing kid?”

 “I need information.” Lionesse took a step forward, making Manny take a step back. She kept her eyes on the knife instead of Manny, “And you're either going to tell me or I'm going to throw you off the dinosaur and make it look like an accident.”

  “Shit kid. You mean business.”

  “I do,” Lionesse took another step forward, backing Manny up against the teeth of the dinosaur, “Now tell me everything you know about the man in the checkered coat.” She pressed the knife a little harder against Manny’s ribs, “Or else.”

 Manny gulped, “The guy you're looking for, Benny, he was traveling with some people from my old gang. They were going to Boulder City.”

  “Why?” Lionesse asked. She needed to know if it was the guy she was looking for.

  “No clue! I know Benny hadn't paid up yet. Maybe that was where they were suppose to get square.”

  “Where is Boulder City?”

  “Straight up route 93 from here. Just keep following the road north.”

 “Thank you.” Lionesse let her hand fall away from Manny’s chest. She then re-sheathed her knife, “Not that hard, was it?”

   Manny grumbled something as he rubbed the spot where Lionesse’s knife had been. “Just leave, you got your information.”

  Lionesse smirked, turning and opening the door. She walked down the stairs, remembering that she needed caps for a hotel room. She walked over to the counter.

   “Hello! I hope you’ve found everything to your liking.”

   “I have.” Lionesse paused for a moment, thinking of what to trade. “How many sticks of dynamite would get me a hundred caps?”

  “Well,” the man thought for a moment, “About seven of them, though I’d like to know why-”

  Lionesse took off her pack and grabbed out seven sticks of dynamite and set them on the table. “One hundred caps.”

  The man opened the safe below his feet, pulling out a bag of caps. He seemed to be ready for trade, as all the sacks were labeled either “10” “50” or “100”. He handed her a sack labeled “100” and took the dynamite. “Here you go.”

  “Do you sell any food?” Lionesse had more dynamite to trade if he did.

  “I’ve only got sugar bombs, I’m afraid.”

   “Oh, well, thank you anyway.” Lionesse said, putting the caps in her pack and putting back on.

   “Don’t be a stranger!”

  Lionesse walked back outside, finding ED-E hovering by the stairs. “C’mon ED-E, let’s go get a room.” She  then remembered that she had wanted to visit the doctor’s tent to get her wounds checked out. Lionesse headed through the gate, ED-E bobbing beside her. She shut the gate, then headed back towards the tent. She walked over to the lady with the fatigues on. Lionesse hoped she was a good doctor, but the blood on her shirt said otherwise.

  “You’re a doctor, right?”

  “Sure am. Well, I mean, if you ignore the lack of doctorates and actual training.”

   Lionesse laughed uncomfortably, “Sure. How much for a full deal? Stitches and physical and stuff?”

   “Hundred caps.”

  “Could I trade you some stuff instead?”

  “Sure kid, whatcha got?”

   “Well…” Lionesse took off her pack, pulling out a vial of Med-X first. The doctor looked concerned for a moment, but didn’t say anything. Lionesse then pulled out a tin of Mentats, this time the doctor spoke up.

  “So, where’d you get that stuff from, kid?”

   “Scavenged it.” Lionesse said, pulling out 5 sticks of dynamite. She figured she wasn’t really going to need all of them, so she traded some of them off. The doctor took up what Lionesse had set out. Lionesse zipped up her pack and put it over her good shoulder.

  “Take a seat on the table inside, I’ll be with you in a second.”

   Lionesse walked into the tent. There were makeshift gurneys and a few beds. There were blood spatters on one of the gurneys that she walked past. There was a table behind one of the blinds. Lionesse sat down, taking off her pack and shotgun again and stuffing it under the table. She kicked her feet as she waited for the lady to come back.

  After a few minutes, the lady walked in. She held a medical bag, and had a doctor’s mask on. She sat the bag down beside Lionesse. “I’m gonna need you to strip. Not all the way, of course, but enough to see all your wounds.”

  Lionesse sighed, standing up. She started with her weapon belt, putting it beside the doctor’s bag. Her gloves followed them, she then unbuttoned and shrugged off her coat, then her vest. She then reluctantly took off her shirt and pants, leaving her in a worn bra and underwear. She felt weird with the weight of her stuff gone, especially in front of someone. She sat back down on the table, then unwrapped her shoulder. It didn’t look very good, the edges were bright red and there was newer blood surrounding it. Lionesse then remembered the hat on her head, and took it off as well. The doctor whistled.

  “You’re the most banged-up kid I’ve _ever_ seen. How’d you get that?” The doctor tapped beside the hole on Lionesse’s head.

  “I was shot, how else?” Lionesse responded sarcastically.

  “Well, let’s get you cleaned up.”

  Lionesse looked down on herself for the first time since the hotel in Primm. She had sand on her, as well as dirt and blood. There were puffy scars over her arms, even some on her thighs. Some of the ones on her arm sliced across as well as down and sideways.  There was one on each arm which followed the vein halfway. The lady took Lionesse’s arm to look at.

 “How old are these?”

 Lionesse looked them over. A few horizontal ones were still pink, freshly healed. “I dunno. Some look old, but some of them look newer. Why?”

  “You mean you don’t remember?” The doctor asked, “They look self-inflicted.”

  “Well,” Lionesse paused, “I don’t remember anything except the past week or so. Since I woke up after I’d been shot.”

  “Ah.” The lady let go of her arm, “Well, let’s just get you cleaned up then. That shoulder looks nasty, and you might need some butterfly stitches on that cheek.”

  The doctor opened up her bag, taking out a bottle of rubbing alcohol, a few bandages of various shapes, and a needle and thread. Lionesse looked down the needle with worry. The lady poured some alcohol onto a cotton ball, and cleaned up the bullet wound on Lionesse’s shoulder. It stung, and Lionesse hissed quietly in pain. The lady then dabbed it with a gauze pad,  and pulled away fresh blood. “Needs stitches. How long have you had that?”

  “Um,” Lionesse thought for a moment. She had gotten it at Primm, slept, traveled to the Outpost, then to Nipton and slept again. She had it around 3 days. “Three days?”

  “Three days?!” The doctor exclaimed, “No wonder it’s so bad!”

  The lady pulled a vial of Med-X out of her bag. She cleaned off the tip with alcohol, the re-cleaned the area around the bullet wound. Lionesse closed her eyes, the bit her hand. She felt the needle once, twice, three times around the wound. She hadn’t realized there were tears running down her face. The doctor set the needle down, “You took all those bullet wounds, and can’t take a needle?”

  Lionesse wiped her face with her arm, “I don’t like needles.”

   “Well, as soon as your shoulder numbs, I’ve got to sew it up. But first I’ll put some butterfly stitches on that cut and a new bandage on that head wound.”

  The doctor cleaned up Lionesse’s wounds, putting some butterfly stitches on the cut on her cheek and a few on the bullet wound. She then stuck large bandages over them. By then, Lionesse’s shoulder was completely numb, and refusing move. She could barely clench her hand into a fist. The doctor sanitized her needle and thread, then got to work stitching it up. Lionesse felt no pain, but she was shaking and crying anyway. Tears fell silently from her cheeks on the the table, and she occasionally sucked in a sobbing breath. It only took a few minutes, and her wound was stitched up.  The doctor then put a gauze pad over it and wrapped it up.

   “All done. Now go ahead and get dressed. Just be careful out there, don’t want my hard work getting ruined.”

  “I’ll try.” Lionesse said, awkwardly pulling her shirt on over her dead arm, followed by her pants. She put her vest back on, welcoming the added weight. She then maneuvered her gloves back on, her hand was not cooperating. Her duster followed, and the doctor helped her with buttoning it and curling in the sleeves. Her belt followed, and she put her pack and shotgun over her working shoulder. The last thing on was her hat, which was probably the easiest.

  Lionesse walked out of the tent, her arm hanging more or less uselessly by her side. ED-E was hovering beside the tent, and happily flew over to meet Lionesse. The sun was low in the sky now, and Lionesse headed to the motel again. She had enough caps for a room now. She told ED-E to wait outside, and headed in. The lady was finishing up her work day. Lionesse put the bag of caps down on the table.

  “One hundred caps. One room.”

  “I'm glad you can stay with us,” The lady said, giving Lionesse the key and taking the caps,  
“Your room will be the one upstairs, closest to the lobby side. Here's your key,”

“Thank you.” Lionesse said with a sigh. She put the key in her pocket and headed outside again. ED-E hovered near the gate, and Lionesse opened it for him. After she closed it, they headed across the courtyard to the stairs at the other end of the motel. She walked up them, with ED-E bobbing beside her. She headed past the closed doors to the last one. She put the key in the lock, which opened with a satisfying click. She walked inside, holding the door open for ED-E.

  The room smelled of old smoke and mold. Lionesse tossed her pack down on the couch, looking around at the room. There was a teddy bear on the bed, and  a plate of rotten meat on the tv desk. Lionesse took it to the garbage can, which sat in the old bathroom. She then walked back into the main room, deciding to look around to see if she could find anything of interest. She opened the fridge, finding bottles of alcohol. There were some familiar ones, and Lionesse knew to stay away from whiskey, as it burned. She grabbed one of the taller bottles, red wine. She used her knife to pry off the cork,  sniffing the contents. It smelled sharp, and she took a drink anyway.

  Lionesse swallowed the dry, burning liquid. Her eyes watered slightly, and she replaced the cork and put it back into the fridge. She coughed, wiping her face on her sleeve. ED-E beeped in concern.

  “I need to stop drinking things I find in weird places.”

  ED-E beeped in agreement.

  Lionesse stumbled to her pack, unzipping it and pulling out a bottle of water. She sat down on the floor, leaning against the bed. She screwed off the top and drank half of it, laughing at herself for being such an idiot. She then replaced the cap and put the bottle on the bedside table. “Wine’s bad-tasting.”

  ED-E beeped in agreement.

  “How would you know? You don’t have a mouth.”

  ED-E made another beep.

  “I still don’t know what you’re saying.” Lionesse stood up, adjusting her hat, “I’m going for a walk. Stay here.”

  ED-E beeped a confirmation as Lionesse headed for the door. She stepped outside into the cooling night air. The heat was quickly being seeped from the sand, and a few strong gusts of air swept over the town as Lionesse headed down the stairs toward the dinosaur. She couldn’t see the lights of New Vegas from here, and the desert looked eerily dark. She stopped by the dinosaur’s tail. Maybe she could visit the mouth to get a better view, but she didn’t want to bother the sniper again. She considered how sturdy the outside of the dinosaur was, and considered climbing it instead of going inside.

  Lionesse pushed her hands against the dinosaur’s tail. He was made of metal, and would probably be able to hold someone as small as she was. She used one of the spikes as leverage, and stood on the tail for a second. It barely creaked, so Lionesse considered it safe. Her arm was regaining some feeling, so she could grip some at least. She started up the dinosaur’s back, avoiding looking at the ground as she did so. Her foot slipped only once, but she caught herself before she fell. When she reached the top of the dinosaur, it was nearly black outside. The last few purple streaks were disappearing over the mountains. She sat down on the flat  nose of the dinosaur, looking in the direction of New Vegas. There were mountains blocking her view, but she could see the vague lights of the tower.

  Lionesse looked through her pockets for a vial of Jet, and was lucky enough to find one. She shook it, it still had something in it. Lionesse gladly took a huff, laying back and looking at the stars. Barely a minute passed, and she heard the door below her open. Lionesse froze, listening. There was another sniper, and he didn’t sound like Manny. He grumbled about something, and Lionesse heard a gun cock. She finished off her Jet, tucking it silently into her pocket. She decided to see who the man was, and gripped the edge of the mouth to peer into the sniper’s nest.

  When she got her face low enough to see inside, she was met with the barrel of a sniper rifle pointed directly at her face.

  “Goddammit! Don't sneak up on me like that. What are you doing kid?” The man asked, clearly angry.

  “Oh, well, um, I’m-” Lionesse felt her hat slipping, and instinctively put her hand out to grab it. As she smacked it back down on her head, her footing slipped, and she started to fall. The sniper reacted quickly, grabbing Lionesse by the shoulders and pulling her into the mouth of the dinosaur.

  “What kind of stupid suicidal tricks are you playing? Where are your parents?” The man asked accusingly.

  “I dunno. I don't have any parents.” Lionesse shrugged, “Thank you for saving me.”

   “You should get going kid. It’s dangerous up here. Why were you climbing the dinosaur anyway?”

  “I dunno. I was bored. I wanted a better view of New Vegas. But I can't see it because of the mountains.”

   “Of course you can’t. Get going kid, I've got work to do.” The man shooed Lionesse away,

  “Hey, just trying to make friendly conversation.” Lionesse said, crossing her arms.

   “I've got no friends here, and especially not a kid.”

  “Well I'm not from around here. And I'm not a kid.”

   “Well, either way, you should leave.”

  “Fine.” Lionesse said, throwing her hands in the air. She then walked over to the door and pulled it open, walking down the stairs. She heard the door slam behind her. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed no-one was behind the counter. She could steal whatever she needed. Or at least, look around without suspicious looks. She walked behind the counter, noticing that the safe was code-locked. She found some ammunition cans lined up beside the wall, and upon opening them, found a few shotgun shells. She stuffed them in her pockets, then looked inside the first aid kit on the shelf. She found nothing but a few stimpacks. She closed it, and looking behind her. She walked over to the door that sat behind the counter, and tried the knob. It was locked.

  Lionesse stuck her hands in her pockets, she had to have her screwdriver and bobby pins in there somewhere. She pulled out her screwdriver, and looked around for some bobby pins. She noticed one lying on the shelf under the register. She picked it up, and bent it into shape to work the lock. It took her a few tries, but she was able to unlock the door. She glanced around before opening the door. There were rockets and toy dinosaurs littered all over the place, with a few random metal crates and a sunset sarsaparilla machine in front of her. Her pip boy ticked quietly, there was a small but steady amount of radiation in the room. She stuck her hand under the sarsparilla dispenser and hit the buttons. She needed something other than water and sips of alcohol to drink. Four bottles fell, clinking against each other loudly. Lionesse froze, listening for someone walking towards her.

  When no sound came, she quickly stuck the bottles in her pockets, carrying one in her hand. She locked the door from the inside before walking out and shutting it quietly behind her. She opened the bottle, putting the cap in her pocket. She sipped on the drink as she walked outside and headed for her room again. The desert was dark, and the moon cast a pale light on the court yard. Lionesse walked up the stairs and down to her room, she had left the door unlocked, and opened it to find ED-E laying on the table. He seemed to be in some sort of sleep mode. Lionesse locked the door behind her, looking for any change in the room. She didn’t see anything, so she instead walked over to her pack. She needed to eat something for dinner.

  Lionesse opened her pack and looked for something to eat. She ate fruits she had picked, the little green bean pods she had picked up, and the banana yucca fruit she had traded for. After that she finished off the last of her sarsparilla and walked over to the wardrobe. She opened it to find an old pair of pre-war pajamas. They were a bit rough and moth-eaten, but they were better than what she was wearing. Lionesse walked to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

  After she had changed and finished her business, she piled her regular clothes onto the couch and laid down on the bed. The cold was seeping into the room from a hole in the boarded up window, and Lionesse curled up under the heavy blankets. The weight felt nice as she drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10 is finally done! It's probably my longest chapter so far! Thank you all for reading this!! I'm glad other people enjoy my work too!!


	11. Boulder City

  Sunlight filtered through the broken window, casting Lionesse and ED-E in a soft glow. As the desert outside heated up, so did the room. And Lionesse, who was sleeping under the heavy covers, warmed up quickly as well. She awoke with a start, looking around the room. She remembered that she was still in Novac, in a motel room, with her robot. Her entire body ached, especially her shoulder. She threw off the thick covers and stood up wearily. ED-E whirred to life, lifting off the table, beeping a greeting to her. Lionesse smiled, gathering up her stuff.

  “Mornin’ Eddy.”

  ED-E beeped happily.

  “Ready to head to Boulder city? Hopefully we’ll find Benny, then-” Lionesse paused what she was doing. What  _ was  _ she going to do when she found Benny? Ask for answers? Kill him? She didn’t know. She had been so hellbent on finding him, she didn’t know what she would do when she _ did _ find him. She shook her head, grabbing her clothes to change. She’d worry about what to do with him later. “Just let me get ready, then we’ll head out.”

  Lionesse walked into the bathroom, changing out of the nightwear and into her duster. Something clattered to the floor as she pulled her duster on. It was her heart-handled key. She must have put it in her pocket at some point. Or it had fallen off. She put it back around her neck, she didn’t want to lose it. After pulling on her gloves, clipping her belt on, and putting her shoes on, she was ready to leave. She walked out of the bathroom, heading to the couch to grab her pack to leave. She picked her hat up off the floor, shaking it out and putting it back on her head. She slung her pack on, followed by her shotgun, and headed towards the door. She unlocked it, holding it so ED-E could follow her out. She locked the door behind her.

  Lionesse noticed there were stairs to her right as well, so she didn’t have to walk all the way across the balcony. “I don’t remember this,” She muttered under her breath as she walked down the stairs with ED-E in tow. Below the other set of stairs, Lionesse noticed the sniper from the night before. He was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette, a duffle bag over one shoulder along with his rifle. Lionesse walked over, a smile on her face.

  “Hey! Thanks for saving me last night!”

  “No problem kid.”

  “How was your shift last night?”

 “It was.. Fine.” The sniper glanced at Lionesse then back over the courtyard. He seemed distracted to Lionesse.

  “Why’ve you got a duffle bag?”

  “None of your business kid. Beat it.” 

  Lionesse rocked on her heels, ED-E bobbing in the wind behind her. “It looks like you’re leaving. Why are you leaving?”

  “Huh?” He looked back at Lionesse, “I thought I told you to beat it, kid.”

  “Where are you going?”

   “Why do you care?”

   “Because.”

  The sniper sighed, “What’s with the interrogation?”

  “Well, um,” Lionesse bit her lip for a moment, “It’s weird that a sniper working in town is leaving, and, well, if you’ve got nowhere to go, maybe you could travel with me?”

  “If I traveled with you, we’d just end up sharing the same grave.”

  “Better than us dying alone.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Boulder City.”

  “Fine,” he put out his cigarette and pushed off the wall, “Let’s get going.”

   “Great! My name’s Lionesse by the way. And this is Eddy!”

  ED-E beeped a greeting.

  The sniper glanced at the robot, then back at Lionesse, “I’m Boone.”

  “Awesome! Let’s get going!” Lionesse grinned, turning and heading towards the gate heading out of the courtyard. After walking through it, Lionesse noticed a robot near the sign. He looked familiar.

  “Hey! Victor!”

  The robot turned around, his familiar cowboy screen flickering,“Well! Butter my butt and call me a biscuit, if it ain’t that kid from Goodsprings! The locals was thinkin’ you was dead!”

  “I’m not, but what are you doing in Novac?”

  “Don’t rightly know. I just got the notion to make my way to New Vegas. Reckon I’ll find out when I get there.”

  “Quite the coincidence us meeting like this.”

   “Seeing how this is the only road around, I’d be a sight more surprised if we didn’t run into each other from time to time.” Victor said, gesturing to the highway.

  “Well, see you around Victor. Thanks for savin’ me and all.”

  “No problem. Be seein’ ya.” 

  Lionesse, Boone, and ED-E started down the road, passing the dinosaur and down a small hill. After a minute, Boone fell in step beside Lionesse.

  “Who’s the robot?”

  “Who? Eddy?”

  “No, the big one.”

  “Oh! That’s Victor,” Lionesse waved Boone off, “He saved my life.”

  “From what?’

  “Dying.”

  “I’m serious. Something seems off about him.”

  Lionesse shrugged, and Boone dropped in step behind her. As they neared the end of the wall, Boone suggested they head over to the scrapyard to stock up. 

  “Where’s the scrapyard?”

  “Just over there,” Boone said, gesturing over a small swath of desert. In the distance, two cars could be seen leaning against each other.

   “Sure? Why not. Lead the way.” 

  Boone led Lionesse and ED-E through the small valleys, arriving at a parallel road. They then started walking down the street towards the scrapyard. As they neared it, Lionesse noticed something wandering around the place.

  Dogs.

  Lionesse froze, as did Boone. He pulled his gun, looking at where Lionesse was looking. “What do you see?”

  “There’s. There’s dogs.”

  Boone put his gun back over his shoulder, “Yeah. They’re lady Gibson’s junkyard dogs. They won’t hurt you.”

  “But they’re  _ dogs. _ ” Lionesse emphasized, “I hate dogs. They’re scary.”

  Boone sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Lionesse, they’re just dogs.”

  “They’re  _ scary, _ Boone!” Lionesse responded, her voice raising as she turned and looked at him, “Dogs are  _ scary _ ! I  _ hate _ dogs!

  “Relax a little bit kid.” Boone said, trying not to cause a scene, “I’ll ask her to put her dogs inside or something.”

  Lionesse turned away from the scrapyard, her face red. Boone continued towards it, leaving Lionesse in the middle of the street. She closed her eyes, covering her ears and scrunching up her face. She just hated dogs, with their vicious teeth and scary growls. Bursts of blood and fire and teeth flashed across her closed lids, and she opened her eyes again. Maybe she had a reason to hate dogs.

  Lionesse turned back around, seeing Boone and the lady ushering the dogs into the garage. Lionesse started walking towards the scrapyard again, ED-E beeping questionably at her.

  “I’m fine, Eddy. I’m just, scared of dogs.”

  ED-E gave another beep, but dropped it.

  Lionesse met Boone near where old lady Gibson was sitting. They were talking, but stopped when Lionesse walked over. Lady Gibson smiled at Lionesse, “Boone told me you were scared of my dogs.”

   “I’m just scared of dogs in general,” Lionesse said, smiling, “I am sure your dogs are very nice.” 

   “They are. Well, you can take a look around. I can also repair anything you need me to, for a price.”

  “Thank you.” Lionesse said, following Boone into the scrap yard. Boone looked around for bullets and Lionesse kicked cans around and glanced over scrap heaps. She noticed something poking out of a pile. It looked like a giant nail. She pulled it out of the heap, looking it over. The base was a perfect fit for her hand, and it was long enough to stab halfway through someone with. She twirled it in her hand, showing it to Boone.

  “Whatta think of this?”

  “Looks like a nail to me, kiddo.”

  “Think I could make it into something?”

   “Sure, maybe a shank or something.”

  “What’s a shank?”

  “It’s like a knife, but you stab instead of slash.”

  “Oh,” Lionesse thought about what would happen if she stabbed someone with it. She figured that it would probably make a mess, but maybe that would be a good thing. She shook her head, ridding herself of the thoughts. “Any idea on how to make a handle?”

  “Sure. Find a washer and maybe we could weld it on.”

  “Washer?”

  “Yeah,” Boone moved around some piece of scrap, then held up a small metal disk with a hole in it, “Something like this. Big enough to fit snugly around the nail.”

  “Oh!” Lionesse looked over at the pile she had found the nail in, “I’ll see what I can find.”

  Lionesse walked over to the scrap pile, digging through it for a washer. She figured she could trade another stick of dynamite, she had a lot of them after all. 

 

* * *

 

  It took Lionesse a while, but she found a fitting washer. She hadn’t noticed that Boone had found what he needed, and was now talking to Gibson. Lionesse walked over, holding up the nail and washer, “Found it! How much?”

  “Eh, ten caps and it’s your’s.”

  “Awesome! Do you take trade?” Lionesse asked, ready to search her pack for another stick of explosives. Boone waved her off, handing Gibson ten caps.

  “Let’s just get moving.”

  “Oh! Thanks!” Lionesse smiled, putting the nail and washer away in her pack. Boone started towards the road again. Gibson waved as the trio left,

  “You take care now!”

  Lionesse had almost caught up with Boone when ED-E crackled to life, “Subject E: Diagnosis Complete. Begin recording. My name is Whitley. I’m a researcher at Adams air force base.”

  Lionesse stopped, turning and looking at ED-E. Boone did the same.

  “Until recently I was in charge of the Duraframe reinforcement project for the combat model eyebots.” ED-E paused. 

  “What is your robot talking about?” Boone asked, crossing his arms. Lionesse shrugged.

  “Keep going?” Lionesse asked, sounding unsure.

    “Eyebot Duraframe Subject E is both the prototype and the last functional model in this test group. I was prepared to make  significant upgrades to the machines. However,  as the project was canceled and all Duraframe assets are being diverted to Hellfire armor, I am sending this model to the Navarro outpost.”

  “Navarro outpost?” Lionesse and Boone asked in unison. Boone shrugged. Lionesse had no clue what it was, but maybe there was something special there she could find after she found Benny.

  “Keep going.”

   “If you are listening to this log from one of out Enclave outposts in Chicago,  give this unit whatever repairs it needs so it can continue to Navarro.”

  “Anything else?” Lionesse asked. ED-E beeped in response. The recording had ended.

  “That’s.. Odd. Let’s just get going.” Boone said, turning and continuing down the road. Lionesse and ED-E followed. The road towards Boulder City met with the road they were on, and they were back on track. 

  After a few minutes of walking, Lionesse jumped onto the dividers and walked across them. She kept up with Boone, who was looking irritated.

  “What are you doing? You’re gonna get shot!”

  “That’s nice,” Lionesse responded, hopping between barriers.

  “‘That’s nice’?! You could get killed.”

  “Right.” Lionesse had the thought that maybe not everyone out in the wasteland had a deathwish.

  “Well, just keep an eye out for anyone or anything coming our way, since you’re up there.”

  “No problem.” Lionesse said, jumping to the next set of dividers. After a few minutes of walking, Boone picked off some mole rats off the road. ED-E helped, setting one on fire. They left the corpses behind and continued down the road.

 

* * *

 

  As the group reached a dip in the road, the dividers ended, and Lionesse took lead. She checked her map, remembering that she had one. As she was fiddling with her pip boy, they passed by a billboard. From behind it, a man ran towards them. Lionesse jumped as a bullet whizzed past her, pulling out her pistol. ED-E fired a laser, his battle music playing as he rushed towards the man. The attacker’s sleeve caught on fire, and he yelled, dropping his gun. Lionesse brought her gun into a firing position, but before she could shoot, the man was brought down by a bullet to the head. Boone moved his rifle away from his eye before putting it back over his shoulder.

  “We’ve got to be careful.”

  “Yeah,” Lionesse holstered her pistol, walking over to the man’s corpse. She kicked his old, tattered rifle away from his corpse. He looked like a petty thief, nothing more. Lionesse kicked his corpse over, “Maybe he has something useful on him?”

  “Maybe,” Boone said, walking over to where Lionesse stood.

  Lionesse crouched down, looking through the man’s pockets. She pulled out a few long bullets, none that her gun used. She was about to toss them when Boone stopped her, “I can use those.”

  Lionesse handed them to Boone, then when back to searching the man’s corpse. He had been carrying a bag made out of an old sack of flour. Lionesse dumped the contents onto the road, a few needles, a bottle, and a stone of sorts fell out. Lionesse looked them over, a vial of Med-X, a vial of Psycho, a bottle of Rad-X, and another whetstone. Lionesse tossed them in her pack. She stood back up, turning around to face Boone and ED-E, “Ready to go?”

  “Yeah, let’s get moving.”

  As they headed down the road, Lionesse noticed a gas station off the side of the road. She figured they could gather some supplies, if the place hadn’t already been ransacked.

  “Hey, think we should check out that station?”

  “I thought we were heading to Boulder City.”

   “We are,” Lionesse huffed, “But we might find something of use in there.”

   “Sure, let’s just not take to long.”

   They headed towards the side station, and Lionesse noticed that the windows were boarded up. When they reached the door, they found it was unlocked, and stepped into the dusty store. Lionesse told ED-E to keep watch outside as they explored inside.

  The store looked relatively empty, some of the shelves had been knocked over. A stray box sat on the shelf closest to the door. Lionesse picked it up, it was Blamco mac and cheese. She remembered she hadn’t eaten anything yet. First they needed to check the place out. “Hey Boone, can you check behind the counter?”

  Boone shrugged, “Whatever gets us in and out faster.”

 While Lionesse looked over the shelves, Boone headed to the back of the store. The backroom had been boarded up, so Boone checked the bags behind the counter. Lionesse pulled another box off the shelf, gumdrops. She left the old, empty, broken Sunset Sarsaparilla bottles on the shelf. She walked over to the cabinet in the corner, testing the handle. It opened easily, revealing a rather bare-looking gun cabinet. The only thing of any use was a box of 9mm ammo. Lionesse closed the cabinet, noticing the crate beside it, Sunset Sarsparilla. She opened it up, there were 3 full bottles of the stuff, as well as some empty ones. Lionesse grabbed them, opening one and pocketing the cap. She drank it while she moved on to the busted deep freezer. Inside there were 3 boxes of cram. Lionesse grabbed them as well, “Hey, Boone.”

  “Yeah?” 

  “Found some cram, after we’re done wanna eat?”

  “Sure. Hurry up.”

  Lionesse brought her spoils up to the counter, setting them down “All of this, to go please.”

  Boone huffed, “Very funny kid. Let’s just hurry up and get this over with.”

  “Fine.” Lionesse said, turning back to look around some more. She noticed a bottle on the ground under the fallen shelves. She walked over and picked it up, unpurified water. There was nothing else in the front of the shop. She put the bottle with the rest of the pile, finding Boone had put his stuff with it as well. There’s caps, a Sunset Sarsaparilla, more  gumdrop boxes, 2 of her cram boxes, a radaway, another box of Blamco mac and cheese, two boxes of sugar bombs, and a few shotgun shells. Boone was leaning against the counter, eating a box of cram with an open Sarsparilla next to him. He moved quick. Lionesse opened up a box of cram, realizing she didn’t have anything to eat with. Boone handed Lionesse a plastic fork, “Found a box of ‘em in the bags.”

  “Nice!” Lionesse took the fork and started wolfing down her food. Her last full meal had been only a day ago, but she felt like it had been weeks ago. She finished it quickly, tossing the box on the ground. She started filling her pack with what she could. She ended up only being able to take the boxes of sugar bombs. Boone put the rest of the scavenged supplies in his duffle bag, besides a box of gumdrops and a bottle of Sarsaparilla, which Lionesse started on as they left the gas station.

  Outside, ED-E was keeping watch. Lionesse gestured for him to follow as they left the station, continuing down the road towards Boulder City. As the sun rose higher in the sky, Lionesse noticed that Boone was red-faced and sweating. She wasn’t, she was still as cool as she was when she walked out of the hotel room. She wondered why, since she was wearing more than he was.

 

* * *

 

 They walked in silence, nothing else attempting to attack them as they headed towards Boulder City. The only other person they saw was a man in front of a billboard, who Lionesse waved to as she passed. He waved back, shouting a “Howdy friend!”

 

* * *

 

  Boone, Lionesse, and ED-E reached the top of the hill. Off to the right sat an outpost, the NCR flag waving above it. The sign in front of them advertised that Boulder city was to the left. The trio headed towards the city, Lionesse was surprised to see that most of the city was rubble. “Why’s the city look like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Like it got bulldozed.”

  “Because during the battle of Hoover Dam, the 1st Recon sharpshooters lured the Legion into the booby-trapped city. They destroyed most of the army the Legion had with the explosives.”

  “Damn.” Lionesse looked up at the billboard they were headed towards, “Is the Hoover Dam over there?”

  “Yeah.”

   “Nice. After we find Benny then we can go see the dam.”

  “Who’s Benny?”

  “He tried to kill me. So I’m gonna return the favor.”

   “Well, you can find him, we’re parting ways here.” Boone said, stopping in front of a stone slab in the center of town. Lionesse frowned.

  “Fine. It was nice traveling with you.” Lionesse crossed her arms, “I guess I’ll see you around.”

  “See you around, Lionesse.” 

  Lionesse walked past Boone towards the standing buildings. The first one was bar, and she stepped inside, “Stay outside Eddy, I’ll be right back.”

  ED-E beeped in response as Lionesse shut the door. There was a man wiping down the bar, who looked up when Lionesse walked in.

  “Oh! A cust-A kid?” The man stopped his cleaning, “What do you want?”

  “I’m looking for a man in a checkered coat. His name’s Benny. Seen anyone like that?”

  “Can’t say I have, I’m afraid.”

  “Oh, well, know anywhere else I could ask around here?”

   “You can try over where the troops are set up, down the road. They might have some information.” He paused, “If they give it to you, that is.”

  “Thanks!” Lionesse turned and headed back out. She gestured for ED-E to follow her again. She headed down the road towards the sandbag barricades. She considered her course of action, killing him upon meeting him wouldn’t give her any answers. And he probably had his two bodyguards with him. She could talk to him, then try to assassinate him and his friends. As she contemplated, she hadn’t realized she had overshot where the NCR were set up. She turned around, seeing a man leaning over a radio talking urgently. Lionesse waited for him to finish, still thinking about what she would say to Benny. She then realized that maybe she should have just let him go, and go after her past instead. 

  Lionesse then realized the trooper was staring at her, trying to get her attention, “Hey, kid, what are you doing?”

  “Huh? Oh! I’m looking for a guy in a checkered coat,” Lionesse remembered the chip, which was the package she was suppose to deliver, “He stole something from me.”

  “Well, the brass at McCarren has ordered the ruins to be shut down until further notice. We’ve got a situation with the Khans right now.”

  “They might have something of mine too, I could help.”

  “Sorry kid, no civilians allowed. Go find your parents or head to the 188 until the issue is resolved.”

  “Please! It’s really, _ really  _ important,” Lionesse was so close, she could feel it, “I can handle myself please just-”

  “No dice kid. Beat it.”

  “Fuck you!” Lionesse yelled. She turned and stormed off, continuing up the road. She was red-faced, she was so close but she couldn’t do anything. She considered killing the man, but his death could bring an entire army down on her. She pulled her knife, looking it over. Maybe an entire army on her tail wasn’t such a bad thing. She could get her revenge, then die for all she cared. She turned, stomping towards the entrance again. She would kill him, get her revenge, and deliver her package. All that stood in her way was an army man.  ED-E beeped worriedly, which Lionesse ignored. She was blinded by fury, and didn’t realize there was someone beside her until someone grabbed her wrist. She turned, trying to pull her wrist from their grasp.

  “Let me go fucker!”


End file.
